No. The optio of filing jointly or individually can be chosen and changed every year, based on which is best for you.
Spouse = married. Can't have one without the other.
Yes, you can file as married filing jointly for the tax year in which your spouse passed away.
No, you cannot file as single on your taxes if you are married. You must either file jointly with your spouse or separately as married filing separately.
Any married person has the option of filing as "Married filing separately" which requires no reporting or signature of the spouse. You can also still file as "Married filing jointly" if you both wish to do so as long as you can get the spouse's signature.
One spouse can file bankruptcy separately and both are held responsible.
Filing married filing separately does not make you responsible for your spouse's debt. Each spouse is responsible for their own debts when filing separately.
If you are considered married at the end of the year, you can never file single. If you don't want to file jointly with your spouse, you can choose "married filing separately." Under rare circumstances where you have not lived with your spouse at all during the last six months of the year, your spouse is not returning, and you meet the other qualifications for head of household, you may file as Head of Household. Frequently it's better to file as married filing jointly though...especially if one has a high and the other a low income.
Yes Yes
No, if you choose the married filing separately option on your W-4 form, you must also file your taxes separately from your spouse.
You don't claim a spouse as a dependent. If you are married you have only two option to legally file your taxes. These are Married Filing Joint and Married Filing Separately. Married Filing Jointly is where you file together and you don't file a spouse as a dependent but you still receive all benefits as if they were a dependent. You will get a higher Standard Deduction and get two exemptions plus any other dependents you may have. Married Filing Separately requires both of you to file the same way and each has to enter the other spouses social security number on their return. You can't file the spouse as a dependent this way.
You would need to file for divorce in the country in which you were married. Therefore, you would need to file in Nicaragua.
Yes, you can choose to file your taxes as "married filing separately" if you are legally married. This means you and your spouse will each file separate tax returns, which can have different implications for your tax situation compared to filing jointly.