My husband is incarcerated. What should my tax filing status be?

Updated June 10, 2026 by David E. Du Val, EA

I am married. Neither my husband nor I have filed taxes in the last 3 years. I do have W-2s for the past 2 years to file; he does not. I'm not sure how I should file. He is also now incarcerated, though I do have power of attorney.

Jenna


Jenna,

First, please accept our condolences for the misfortunes that have hit your home.

To help you best know how you should file, let’s first go over the different filing types available:

Married Filing Jointly (MFJ)

Common benefits of MFJ (depending on your income and situation):
 

• Often a lower overall tax bill due to wider tax brackets for MFJ.
• Access to certain credits and deductions that may be reduced or unavailable when filing Married Filing Separately.
• Higher standard deduction compared with filing separately (for the same tax year).
• May allow higher income thresholds before certain phaseouts apply (depending on the credit/deduction).
• Simpler administration: one return that includes all income, withholding, and deductions for two individuals (rather than coordinating two separate returns).

Married Filing Separate (MFS)

Common reasons to consider MFS (depending on your situation):
 

• Keeping tax liability separate (for example, if you’re concerned about your spouse’s unreported income, back taxes, penalties, or other tax issues).
• Simplifying separate finances during separation (or when spouses do not want to combine income/deductions on one return).
• When one spouse has large out-of-pocket medical expenses (or other AGI-limited deductions), it may be easier to qualify for the deductions on a separate return.
• When filing separately better aligns with certain state rules or community property considerations (state-specific).
• When one spouse is a nonresident, and you do not want (or are not able) to make the election to file a joint U.S. return.

Head of Household (HOH)

• If you have lived apart from your spouse for the last six months of the year, paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home, and had a qualifying person – such as a child – living with you more than half the year, you may qualify for HOH status. 
  • Some benefits to the HOH filing status are: 
    • Lower tax rates than Married Filing Separately (MFS)
    • Higher standard deduction than MFS
      • This can help reduce taxable income.
    • Better access to certain credits/deductions vs. MFS
      • MFS often limits or disqualifies taxpayers from valuable credits.
    • Potentially larger refund/lower tax bill compared with MFS
      • This particularly applies when supporting dependents.

If the information above still doesn’t quite help you decide which filing type to choose from, you can use tax software to compare the statuses to see which is more beneficial. Another option would be to contact a local tax professional to review your situation and documentation and help determine the best option for you.

An additional tip: Since you have more than one tax year to file, remember that each W-2 must be filed for the year the income was received.

Deductibly Yours,
Dave