Filed for divorce on 12/31/25. How to approach taxes?

General
1

Hello everyone, thank you for reading.

KISS:
Filed for divorce on the last day of the year. Do I file as married, individual or file as single ?

California; no kids; no community property or debt.

6 month wait time began on 12/31/24 I believe.

2

Merely filing for divorce does not make you single. Your choices are Married Filing Joint or Married Filing Separately. What is best for you depends on your circumstances, not just the tax outcome.

3

Blakeley said:
Merely filing for divorce does not make you single. Your choices are Married Filing Joint or Married Filing Separately. What is best for you depends on your circumstances, not just the tax outcome.

Thanks!

4

Likely filing as married filing separately since you are still legally married.

5

Wade said:
Likely filing as married filing separately since you are still legally married.

Thanks!

6

Just in case you didn’t know, California is a community property state. Community property doesn’t just refer to land, it also includes your income from work if you lived together during the year.

If you file MFS you’ll probably need to allocate your income from work and income tax withholding. That basically means you report half of your income and tax withholding on your return AND half your spouse’s income and tax withholding.

7

Married. File jointly if you get along with soon-to-be-ex, separate if not. You can’t file as single, because you aren’t single yet.

8

Hadley said:
Married. File jointly if you get along with soon-to-be-ex, separate if not. You can’t file as single, because you aren’t single yet.

Thanks!

9

I assume you mean 12/31/24. Your tax status is married, assuming the divorce is not finalized. You can file as Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, or Head of Household if you have lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of 2024 and you have a relative (generally a child) dependent who qualifies you to file with HOH status.

10

@West
Yes, 2024! Thanks

We will explore filing jointly, thank you.

11

Sorry op, hope it goes smoothly…others covered the tax issue, may want to ask spouse about mfj one more time if you guys are on good terms, otherwise you’ll file as mfs…good luck

12

Zadie said:
Sorry op, hope it goes smoothly…others covered the tax issue, may want to ask spouse about mfj one more time if you guys are on good terms, otherwise you’ll file as mfs…good luck

Thanks!
We are on good terms but she didn’t work all year… Will explore options thank you

13

@Sam
All the more reason for you to file mfj if she didn’t work, cheers

14

What kind of time machine are you using?

15

MFS. File as soon as possible.