What is my filing status? It helps determine how much income tax you pay

• Your filing status, along with your income, helps determine your tax liability.
• There are five tax filing statuses: single, head of household, married filing separately, married filing jointly, and qualifying widow(er).
• You have to select a filing status on your W-4, which lets your employer know how much to withhold for taxes from each paycheck, and when you file your tax return.
• See Business Insider's picks for the best tax software »

How much you pay - and legally owe - in taxes is partially determined by your filing status.

There are three filing statuses for non-married taxpayers - single, head of household, and qualifying widow(er). Married taxpayers can either file taxes jointly or separately.

Each filing status has its own tax brackets (married filing jointly and qualifying widow(er) use the same tax table); these represent the rates at which the individual or couple's income is taxed as they reach certain thresholds. The seven tax rates range from 10% to 37%.

Because America has a progressive tax system, the amount of taxes owed by someone steadily increases as that person's income increases. It's not a monumental change when people jump from one tax bracket to another.

Still, choosing the right filing status for your tax situation is crucial. It helps you qualify for certain deductions and credits, and determine your standard deduction amount and correct tax liability.

When you start a new job, you'll fill out a W-4 and select a filing status to let your employer know how much money to withhold from each paycheck for taxes. And when it comes time to file your tax return, you choose a filing status again to ensure the amount of taxes you paid and the amount you owe are the same.

What is my filing status?

Below are the guidelines for choosing a tax filing status. If you're still unsure, the IRS also offers a handy questionnaire that takes about five minutes to fill out.

Single

Non-married taxpayers who are not claimed as a dependent on another person's return should file as single. If you were previously married and your divorce was finalized before the last day of the year, you'll file as single.

Single taxpayers are eligible for a standard deduction of $12,200 for the 2019 tax year and $12,400 for the 2020 tax year.

Married filing jointly (MFJ)

Couples who were married by December 31 of the previous year are eligible to file a joint return. In general, there are a few major benefits to married filing jointly, including access to valuable tax credits, a larger standard deduction, a larger capital loss deduction, and combined incomes, potentially bringing a higher earner into a lower tax bracket.

The standard deduction for MFJ is $24,400 for the 2019 tax year and $24,800 for the 2020 tax year.

Married filing separately (MFS)

Married filers can file separate tax returns where they report only their own income, deductions, and credits. But they're still connected in some ways. For instance, if one spouse itemizes deductions, the other must, too.

Tax law imposes some other notable limitations on married couples who file separately. They are excluded from the earned income credit, dependent care credit, education-related credits, and the student-loan interest deduction. Also, the income threshold for the highest tax rate is lower for MFS than for MFJ and single filers.

The standard deduction for MFS is the same as for single filers: $12,200 for the 2019 tax year and $12,400 for the 2020 tax year.

Head of household

Non-married individuals may choose to file as head of household if they have a qualifying child or dependent. This includes a grandchild, stepchild, foster child, adopted child, sister, brother, step sibling, and under special circumstances, a parent, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, or in-law.

The taxpayer must cover more than half of the costs of running the household where the qualifying child or dependent resided for at least half of the year.

Taxpayers "considered unmarried" may also file as head of household if their spouse lived away from the home for the last six months of the year and they covered the majority of household costs where their dependent resides.

A person who files as head of household may claim a standard deduction of $18,350.

Qualifying widow(er)

An individual whose spouse dies is still able to file jointly for that tax year if they do not remarry. Then, in the two years following, they are entitled to file as a qualifying widow or widower as long as they claim a dependent child, stepchild, or adopted child.

For example, if a man died in 2019 and left behind a wife and two young children, the woman can still file jointly this tax season. For tax years 2020 and 2021, she'll be eligible to file as a qualifying widow, which retains the same benefits of the married filing jointly status.

The standard deduction is the same as for MFJ: $24,400 for the 2019 tax year and $24,800 for the 2020 tax year.

• More tax day coverage:
• When are taxes due?
• How to file taxes for 2019
• What is a tax credit?
• H&R Block vs. TurboTax

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.