Last year we filed together and this year the divorce still not over i'm pretty sure i will file married but filing separately.. My stbx went so slow last year that before i saw any of the return it was very late in the year.

It is just one more thing id like to do on my own this year without his so called help.

We filed together except the year we finally divorced. "Him again" didn't give me any trouble about splitting the refund but he was out of the country when I filed for both of us.

With your son starting college in the fall why don't you check with a tax preparer or regular accountant to see what will benefit you.

You can file either way. My Ex and I filed jointly because we were married most of the year and the taxes would of been huge. I was able to fill out supplementary forms to get a pell grant from the university I was attending. So far I have not had luck with getting any grants for my son. Is he (your son) going to use your income on the FAFSA? will he be living with you?

Misred, My son is living with me now but is planning on living on campus next fall. I'm not sure if we have to file together for the FAFSA. Will they look at both of our incomes since we're not divorced yet? I want to do whatever will benefit my son the most. I'm also considering going back to school too.

Thanks for all of your input on this. Taxes and divorce - YUK!

Last year it was married filing separately - the ex had lots of extra income - my withholding would have gone to pay the taxes on it so I made sure I got my refund. This year the divorce is final so it will be single from now on!

We filed jointly for 2009 because we were married the whole year. The accountant sent me the refund, but it was in both our names, ex's name first, and it was very stressful getting the refund split.
I went NO CONTACT as soon as my half was in my name!
I filed as single for 2010. What a relief!
((hugs))

They will use the whatever you file for 2010. The lower the income the better the chances. If you file jointly then the income will be higher. Your son will complete a FAFSA and if he has no full time employment and lives at home then it will be necessary for the parents or a parent to complete one as well. I did not get as much help through my son's financial aid office on completing forms as I did the university I attend. You might need to call someone there and ask for suggestions.

It is probably more advantageous to file togeher and there is a place on the form where you can designate how any refund should be split and automatically deposited. That is what I did in 2005 and 2006 and it was the only way I would agree to filing jointly while we were still in the throes of divorce.

The bottom line with the IRS is this, if you were legally married on the last day of the year, Dec 31st, you have to file married. You can file married, but separately, which may not be to your advantage as you may pay more in taxes. People have a hard time with this, but that is how they call it. If you divorce before that, you are considered single for that year. Get a tax professional to help you if you don't understand it. If you are in the process, talk to your attorney as to how to handle the joint return.

KC brought up another issue, do not assume that you will half a refund in divorce either, if your spouse made more than you did, or one of you did not work, he/she may be entitled to the entire refund or more of it. I have seen people go to battle during the divorce about the distribution of the refund. I also have seen one spouse take the whole refund and after the fact once it is gone hard to get back! We did not deal with the refund, as we did our taxes to never get a refund, but I had to sign the tax return, we did file jointly the year we were divorcing, Talk to your attorney.. you want to make sure it is done correctly, you do not want to owe the IRS anything after the divorce.

MsTerey makes a good point about the refund, but the way I figured it, we wouldn't have gotten ANY REFUND if I hadn't been claimed as a dependent. So, in other words, he needed me more than I needed him when it came to taxes.
Being able to "break even" at the end of a year is a good way to figure it, but the X worked on straight commission and his BIG COMMISSIONS always came at the end of the year.

MsTerey, My lawyer told me differently. My divorce was official October 2009 and she said we could file either way. I Think Turbo Tax software also said that. The EX and I filed jointly for the entire year. I think HealingT is more interested in how it will help her son receive pell grants for school than the refund.

I could not find anything on line to back up my reply #12, but my lawyer did say we could go either way and we did file jointly for that year.

Here, I cut and pasted this from Publication 504 from the IRS, Divorce.

Unmarried persons. You are unmarried for the whole year if either of the following applies.

You have obtained a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance by the last day of your tax year. You must follow your state law to determine if you are divorced or legally separated.

I was divorced in 2008. The last year we filed jointly was 2007. HealingT has not even filed yet for divorce, she states her husband will file in Jan 2012. She is still married, and you could file separate returns each but married. As far as Pell grants, she may have to wait if her income is joint and too high.

Misred, I wanted to add that you live in a community property state and so do I, and they do have some weird rules for that. If you did not get any income from a spouse in that year, and child support is not income, you may under those rules can file separate even if you divorce. That is involved, I am by no means a tax expert.. and your attorney of course overrides anything we say.