Taxpayer asks:
My husband and I are married, lived apart most of 2006 but did reside together the last several weeks of 2006. My husband retired and had no income for 2006. I had only interest income – more than $3, based on that believe that because of “living together at the end of 2006”.
Here are the questions. What does “living together” mean for this purpose? My husband and I lived apart almost all year (with a handful of exceptions) but did reside under the same roof the latter part of December 2006. Does the IRS get into the nature or quality of the relationship? (IRS agents under the beds?) Also, does the duration of the amount of time “lived together” matter – e.g. is two weeks enough, one day, etc?
Taxgirl says:
It doesn’t sound like, from the facts, that you need to file, which was the question in your subject line.
That said, married is married. If you’re legally married, your choices are to file Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS). You can file as MFJ if you were (obviously) married as of the last day of the tax year whether or not you’re living together or if your spouse died during the tax year and you did not remarry. For more info, see my prior post on the subject.
Before you go: be sure to read my disclaimer. Remember, I’m a lawyer and we love disclaimers.
If you have a question, here’s how to Ask The Taxgirl.
