Legal separation in maryland for income tax purposes

You are still married, so you must file as married persons(albeit married, filing as single). The only way to distinguish your marriage is through a court order )or death). FYI: limited divorce does not authorize you to file as single. My advice is to go ahead and file the complaint for divorce and get the ball rolling. If both parties agree on everything, the process should run fairly smooth. Good luck!

Unfortunately, you will need to file "Married, Filing Separately." You can also file jointly. Filing jointly may benefit both of you. Are there any children? If yes, where does the child(ren) live most of the year? The person who has the child most of the year and provides over half of his or her support can file as Head of Household, but the other person still has to file "Married Filing Separately" until the actual divorce.

It will probably be to your benefit to file jointly, so I would do that at this point. You may have other tax questions about this, so you may want to talk to me or other experienced tax counsel.

For Tax Year 2011, you have several choices. You can file "married Filling Separately or Jointly. You should prepare tax forms both ways to determine which is the most beneficial. Also, whoever has the child most of the year and provides over half of his/her support will be able to file as Head of Household which generally is most beneficial tax-wise.