Qualifying Surviving Spouse/RDP

Check the box on Form 540, line 5 and use the joint return tax rates for 2024 if all five of the following apply:

Your spouse/RDP died in 2022 or 2023 and you did not remarry or enter into another registered domestic partnership in 2024.

You have a child, stepchild, or adopted child (not a foster child) whom you can claim as a dependent or could claim as a dependent except that, for 2024: The child had gross income of $5,050 or more; The child filed a joint return; or You could be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.

If the child is not claimed as your dependent, enter the child’s name in the entry space under the "Qualifying surviving spouse/RDP" filing status.

This child lived in your home for all of 2024. Temporary absences, such as for vacation or school, count as time lived in the home.

You paid over half the cost of keeping up your home for this child.

You could have filed a joint tax return with your spouse/RDP the year he or she died, even if you actually did not do so.