Form 1040 (US Individual Income Tax Return) offers five tax filing statuses for US federal tax purposes. Taxpayers can only select one filing status on the return; however, some are eligible for more than one filing status.

The five filing statuses are the following:

Married Filing Joint (MFJ) Filing Status

MFJ is available to married taxpayers. Under the US tax code, a husband and wife may make a single return jointly of income taxes under Subtitle A, even though one of the spouses has neither gross income nor deductions.1 

Married taxpayers can use the MFJ status if, on the last day of the tax year, the couple:

  • Were married and lived together;
  • Were married and lived apart but were not legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree;
  • Were common law married under the laws of the state in which they live; or
  • Are the surviving spouse who did not remarry before the end of the tax year.
Example MFJ Status Available for Newlyweds

John and Jane are dating and legally married on December 27, 2023. Even though John and Jane were only married five days in 2023, they were married on the last day of the tax year, so they can use MFJ and submit a joint tax return for the 2023 tax year.

Example Where MFJ is Available for Deceased Spouse

Adam and Emily have been married for over 40 years and have always filed a joint tax return. Adam passed away on October 10, 2023. Emily does not remarry during 2023, so even though she is a single filing taxpayer at the end of the year, Emily can use the MFJ tax filing status for 2023.  

Example Where MFJ is Not Available

Bob and Martha live full-time in the Cayman Islands. Martha is a citizen of France, and Bob is a US citizen. They were married in 2023. As a US citizen living abroad, Bob must file his annual Form 1040 for the 2023 tax year. He cannot use MFJ because his spouse is a nonresident alien. Therefore, Bob is only eligible to use the Married Filing Separate (MFS) or HOH filing status.

If Bob and Martha want to file a joint tax return, they can make an election under IRC Section 6013(g) to treat Martha as a resident of the US for federal tax purposes. The election applies to the current tax year and all subsequent tax years until the election is terminated.2

The IRS provides an interactive assistant to help taxpayers determine what tax filing status is available. 

  1. IRC Section 6013(a) ↩︎
  2. IRC Section 6013(g)(4) ↩︎