Montana Individual Income Tax — Filing Statuses

# Montana Individual Income Tax Filing Statuses

Your filing status is your marital status for tax filing purposes. Your standard deductions, filing requirements, and other aspects of your tax return may change based on your filing status.

2024 and After

Beginning with tax years starting after December 31, 2023, Montana taxpayers must use the same filing status they used for federal purposes. This includes married couples who have different residency statuses for Montana tax purposes. For example, a nonresident couple filing a joint federal return is required to file a joint Montana return even if only one spouse has Montana source income. Similarly, a couple where at least one spouse is a resident or part-year resident and files a joint federal return will file a joint Montana return even if the other spouse is not a Montana resident.

Couples with different residency statuses where one is a resident or part-year resident will use the "part-year resident" status and complete the Schedule II with their Form 2, to compute their tax on a joint return.

All other individuals will use the same filing status from their federal return.

2023 and Before

Prior to January 1, 2024, Montana law permitted you to claim a filing status different from what you claimed on your federal tax return if you met the requirements for the status. For example, if you are married and you filed your federal income tax return jointly, you and your spouse have the option to file your Montana tax return either jointly or separately.

Montana has six filing statuses:

Single

Married filing jointly

Married filing separately on the same form

Married filing separately on separate forms

Married filing separately and spouse not filing

Head of Household

Choose your status based on which fits you best on December 31 of the tax year.

Selecting a Filing Status

Single

You can claim this filing status if on December 31, you were:

Unmarried

Legally separated according to your state law under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance

Widowed before January 1 of the tax year and did not remarry during the tax year

Married Filing Jointly

You and your spouse may file a joint return if you were married as of December 31, even if:

You did not live with your spouse at the end of the year

Your spouse died during the year, and you did not remarry during the year

You were married during the year, and your spouse died after the tax year before you filed your tax return

Married Filing Separately

If you and your spouse both have income, you can file your Montana income tax returns separately, even if you filed your federal form jointly.

If you choose to file separately, you and your spouse must report your adjusted gross income separately. You can't assign income between the two of you.

On The Same Form

You may file separately on the same form unless one spouse is a Montana resident, and the other is not.

Although you're submitting returns on the same form, you are submitting two separate tax returns. If both taxpayers are entitled to refunds, we will issue two separate checks or direct deposits. If both spouses owe additional tax, penalties, or interest, we will mail separate Statements of Account .

Please Note: If you file separately on the same form, we assume you want us to apply your refund to your spouse's amount owed. Please file on separate forms if you do not want your refund offset against your spouse's taxes.

If we discover math or other computational errors when processing the form, we will adjust it to correct the error. This might cause your refund to be applied to your spouse's increased tax. To avoid this, file your returns on separate forms.

On Separate Forms

You may use this status if:

Both spouses have Montana source income, and one spouse is a resident of Montana, and the other spouse is a nonresident; or

You want to receive your own refund or pay your own tax.

Spouse Not Filing

You can use this filing status if:

Both you and your spouse are nonresidents, and one spouse has no Montana source income

You are a resident, and your spouse is a nonresident with no Montana source income

Another taxpayer claims your spouse as a dependent.

When you use this status, you can't claim your spouse as a dependent on your return.

Head of Household

You can file as head of household if you qualify on your federal income tax return. See the IRS guidelines for more information.