Major life changes—like becoming single—can significantly affect your taxes. If you experienced a divorce, legal separation, or the death of your spouse in 2024, expect your tax return and refund to be impacted.

If you’re newly single, you probably filed taxes as either “married filing jointly” or “married filing separately” before. But now, things will change depending on your marital status as of December 31, 2024—that’s the key date. If you were still legally married on that day, your filing status won’t change. But if your divorce or separation was finalized before the end of the year, your filing options will be different.

You’ll typically have two choices: single or head of household. The “single” status applies to those who are unmarried, legally separated, or divorced. If you have dependents, however, you might qualify as “head of household,” which could offer more tax benefits. To file as head of household, you must have paid more than half the cost of maintaining your home and supported a qualifying dependent during 2024.

If your spouse passed away in 2024, you can still file a joint return for that year. And if you have a dependent child and your spouse died in 2023 or 2022, you may qualify to file as a surviving spouse.

When dependents are involved, it’s often best if ex-partners can agree on who will claim them and any related tax credits. Sometimes, parents can share tax benefits using IRS Form 8332, but usually, one parent takes the full credit. This is often outlined in the divorce agreement. If not, and both parents want to claim the child, the IRS will decide based on three factors: whether the child is related to the person, lived with them for over half the year, and received more than half their financial support from them. If you meet those criteria, you can claim the dependent.