26 U.S.C. § 2
§ 2. Definitions and special rules
Explainer
Filing status: single, married, head of household or surviving spouse
Your filing status sets your tax brackets and your standard deduction. Head of household, for unmarried people who support a child or other relative at home, gets a $24,150 standard deduction for 2026 instead of $16,100.
In plain English
Every return uses one of five filing statuses. Section 2 defines two of them, and qualifying surviving spouse. The status decides which tax brackets apply and how big your is, so choosing the right one can be worth thousands of dollars.
Your status depends on your situation on December 31:
- Single: not married.
- Married filing jointly: one return for both spouses.
- Married filing separately: each spouse files their own.
- Head of household: unmarried, and you pay more than half the cost of a home where a qualifying child or relative lives with you.
- Qualifying surviving spouse: your spouse died in one of the last two years, your child lives with you all year, and you pay more than half the cost of the home.
Who it touches
Everyone who files. Head of household is the one people most often miss: single parents, people supporting a parent, and people married to a spouse.
The rules
| Status (2026) | Standard deduction | 12% bracket ends at |
|---|---|---|
| Single | $16,100 | $50,400 |
| Married filing jointly | $32,200 | $100,800 |
| Married filing separately | $16,100 | $50,400 |
| Head of household | $24,150 | $67,450 |
| Qualifying surviving spouse | $32,200 | $100,800 |
Head of household requires all of these:
- You're unmarried on December 31, or treated as unmarried. You count as unmarried if you lived apart from your spouse for the last 6 months of the year and the child lives with you, or if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year.
- You paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home (rent, mortgage interest, property taxes, home insurance, utilities, repairs, food eaten at home).
- A qualifying person lived with you for more than half the year: usually your child, or another relative you can claim as a dependent. A dependent parent is the exception and doesn't have to live with you, as long as you pay more than half the cost of their home.
Qualifying surviving spouse gives joint-return brackets and the joint standard for the two years after the year your spouse died (for the year of death itself you can usually file jointly), if your dependent son, daughter or stepchild lives with you all year, you pay more than half the cost of the home, you could have filed jointly in the year of death, and you haven't remarried.
Worked example
Grace is divorced, earns $60,000, and her 9-year-old son lives with her all year.
- As single: $43,900, tax about $5,020
- As head of household: taxable income $35,850, tax about $3,950
Head of household saves her about $1,070, on top of the child , which she gets either way.
Watch out for
- Only one parent can use the same child to claim head of household. Only the parent the child lives with for more than half the year can, even if that parent lets the other parent claim the child as a dependent.
- A boyfriend or girlfriend, even one you support, can't make you head of household, even if they're your dependent.
- Married couples who aren't legally separated can't both be single. If you don't qualify as "treated as unmarried", it's joint or separate.
Draft explainer. Figures checked against IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the current text on November 5, 2026. Not yet reviewed by a licensed tax professional.
History
Part of the code since 1954. Last changed December 21, 2005 by the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005.
Every change, newest first (12)
- December 21, 2005Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005
- October 4, 2004Public Law 108-311
- November 10, 1988Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988
- October 22, 1986Tax Reform Act of 1986
- July 18, 1984Deficit Reduction Act of 1984
- January 12, 1983Public Law 97-448
- October 20, 1976Public Law 94-569
- October 4, 1976Tax Reform Act of 1976
- January 2, 1975Public Law 93-597
- December 30, 1969Tax Reform Act of 1969
- February 26, 1964Public Law 88-272
- August 16, 1954Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (original text)
The law as written
Current through Public Law 119-102. Amendment notes omitted.
Structure
For purposes of section 1, the term “surviving spouse” means a taxpayer—
whose spouse died during either of his two taxable years immediately preceding the taxable year, and
who maintains as his home a household which constitutes for the taxable year the principal place of abode (as a member of such household) of a dependent (i) who (within the meaning of section 152, determined without regard to subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B) thereof) is a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of the taxpayer, and (ii) with respect to whom the taxpayer is entitled to a deduction for the taxable year under section 151.
For purposes of this paragraph, an individual shall be considered as maintaining a household only if over half of the cost of maintaining the household during the taxable year is furnished by such individual.
Notwithstanding paragraph (1), for purposes of section 1 a taxpayer shall not be considered to be a surviving spouse—
if the taxpayer has remarried at any time before the close of the taxable year, or
unless, for the taxpayer’s taxable year during which his spouse died, a joint return could have been made under the provisions of section 6013 (without regard to subsection (a)(3) thereof).
If an individual was in a missing status (within the meaning of section 6013(f)(3)) as a result of service in a combat zone (as determined for purposes of section 112) and if such individual remains in such status until the date referred to in subparagraph (A) or (B), then, for purposes of paragraph (1)(A), the date on which such individual died shall be treated as the earlier of the date determined under subparagraph (A) or the date determined under subparagraph (B):
the date on which the determination is made under section 556 of title 37 of the United States Code or under section 5566 of title 5 of such Code (whichever is applicable) that such individual died while in such missing status, or
except in the case of the combat zone designated for purposes of the Vietnam conflict, the date which is 2 years after the date designated under section 112 as the date of termination of combatant activities in that zone.
For purposes of this subtitle, an individual shall be considered a head of a household if, and only if, such individual is not married at the close of his taxable year, is not a surviving spouse (as defined in subsection (a)), and either—
maintains as his home a household which constitutes for more than one-half of such taxable year the principal place of abode, as a member of such household, of—
a qualifying child of the individual (as defined in section 152(c), determined without regard to section 152(e)), but not if such child—
is married at the close of the taxpayer’s taxable year, and
is not a dependent of such individual by reason of section 152(b)(2) or 152(b)(3), or both, or
any other person who is a dependent of the taxpayer, if the taxpayer is entitled to a deduction for the taxable year for such person under section 151, or
maintains a household which constitutes for such taxable year the principal place of abode of the father or mother of the taxpayer, if the taxpayer is entitled to a deduction for the taxable year for such father or mother under section 151.
For purposes of this paragraph, an individual shall be considered as maintaining a household only if over half of the cost of maintaining the household during the taxable year is furnished by such individual.
For purposes of this subsection—
an individual who is legally separated from his spouse under a decree of divorce or of separate maintenance shall not be considered as married;
a taxpayer shall be considered as not married at the close of his taxable year if at any time during the taxable year his spouse is a nonresident alien; and
a taxpayer shall be considered as married at the close of his taxable year if his spouse (other than a spouse described in subparagraph (B)) died during the taxable year.
Notwithstanding paragraph (1), for purposes of this subtitle a taxpayer shall not be considered to be a head of a household—
if at any time during the taxable year he is a nonresident alien; or
For purposes of this part, an individual shall be treated as not married at the close of the taxable year if such individual is so treated under the provisions of section 7703(b).
For definition of taxable income, see section 63.