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:

Qualifying Surviving Spouse (QSS) Filing Status

QSS filing status is available to a taxpayer if their spouse died during one of the previous two years and they have a dependent child. 

The surviving spouse taxpayer can qualify for QSS if they meet the following requirements under IRC Section 2(a): 

  • The taxpayer’s spouse died during either of the two taxable years immediately preceding the current tax year; 
  • The taxpayer maintains a household and pays more than half the cost of maintaining the home for the year; and
  • The taxpayer has a dependent who is either the taxpayer’s son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter, and the dependent lives with the taxpayer all year except for temporary absences. 

The QSS status provides the surviving spouse the same standard deduction and tax tables as the Married Filing Joint (MFJ) filing status, which is preferable to the Head of Household (HOH) filing status. 

IRS Publication 501 (Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information) provides additional information on the QSS filing status.  

Example QSS Filing Status

Jane and John were married on June 1, 2010, and have two children. In 2023, John unexpectedly passed away from a medical condition. The children are ages 5 and 8 during 2023. Jane filed her taxes as MFJ for the 2023 tax year. In 2024, Jane did not remarry, so Jane can use the QSS tax filing status.

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