I am married, but I have not lived with my wife for over 8 years. I do not itemize or claim dependents. Do I file as single?

Unfortunately, you have to file as "married filing separately". To be "considered unmarried" for IRS purposes, in addition to not living with your spouse for the last 6 months of the year you must pay for more than half of the maintenance on a home for a dependent child. Because you said you have no dependents, you will not qualify under that rule.

Fortunately, the difference between "single" and "married filing separately" for people without dependents is not always very significant, at least for the tax year 2009 and 2010. The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 brought so called "marriage penalty relief" to married individuals. Under this law, as amended through 2009, the tax brackets for "single" and "married filing separately" are the same through the first $68,650 of income.

This is currently only true through the 2010 tax season, and there are some other benefits to those who file "single" as opposed to "married filing separately", so from a tax standpoint it would be to your benefit to get that divorce as soon as possible.

You have two choices. You can file married filing jointly or married filing separately. If you choose to file single, your tax rate is higher and not to your advantage.So there is NO reason to file single since it would penalize you more.

Good luck and best wishes.

If you are not legally separated, the IRS considers you married, period. -- Quote Considered married. You are considered married for the whole year if on the last day of your tax year you and your spouse meet any one of the following tests.1.

You are married and living together as husband and wife. 2. You are living together in a common law marriage that is recognized in the state where you now live or in the state where the common law marriage began.3.

You are married and living apart, but not legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance.4. You are separated under an interlocutory (not final) decree of divorce. For purposes of filing a joint return, you are not considered divorced.

-- /Quote irs.gov/publications/p17/ch02.html#en_US....

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