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3. You cannot take the credit for child and dependent care expenses in most cases, and the amount you can exclude from in­ come under an employer's dependent care assistance program is limited to $2,500 (instead of $5,000 on a joint re­ turn). However, if you are legally separa­ ted or living apart from your spouse, you may be able to file a separate return and still take the credit. See Joint Return Test in Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses, for more information. 4. You cannot take the earned income credit. 5. You cannot take the exclusion or credit for adoption expenses in most cases. 6. You cannot take the education credits (the American opportunity credit and lifetime learning credit), the deduction for student loan interest, or the tuition and fees de­ duction. 7. You cannot exclude any interest income from qualified U.S. savings bonds you used for higher education expenses. 8. If you lived with your spouse at any time during the tax year: a. You cannot claim the credit for the elderly or the disabled, and b. You must include in income a greater percentage (up to 85%) of any social security or equivalent railroad retire­ ment benefits you received. 9. The following credits and deductions are reduced at income levels half those for a joint return: a. The child tax credit, b. The retirement savings contributions credit, c. The deduction for personal exemp­ tions, and d. Itemized deductions. 10. Your capital loss deduction limit is $1,500 (instead of $3,000 on a joint return). 11. If your spouse itemizes deductions, you cannot claim the standard deduction. If you can claim the standard deduction, your basic standard deduction is half the amount allowed on a joint return. Adjusted gross income (AGI) limits. If your AGI on a separate return is lower than it would have been on a joint return, you may be able to deduct a larger amount for certain deductions that are limited by AGI, such as medical expen­ ses. Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs). You may not be able to deduct all or part of your contributions to a traditional IRA if you or your spouse were covered by an employee retire­ ment plan at work during the year. Your deduc­ tion is reduced or eliminated if your income is more than a certain amount. This amount is much lower for married individuals who file sep­ arately and lived together at any time during the year. For more information, see How Much Can You Deduct? in chapter 1 of Publication 590­A. Rental activity losses. If you actively partici­ pated in a passive rental real estate activity that produced a loss, you generally can deduct the loss from your nonpassive income up to $25,000. This is called a special allowance. However, married persons filing separate re­ turns who lived together at any time during the year cannot claim this special allowance. Mar­ ried persons filing separate returns who lived apart at all times during the year are each al­ lowed a $12,500 maximum special allowance for losses from passive real estate activities. See Rental Activities in Publication 925, Pas­ sive Activity and At­Risk Rules. Community property states. If you live in Ari­ zona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin and file separately, your income may be consid­ ered separate income or community income for income tax purposes. See Publication 555, Community Property. Joint Return After Separate Returns You can change your filing status from a sepa­ rate return to a joint return by filing an amended return using Form 1040X. You generally can change to a joint return any time within 3 years from the due date of the separate return or returns. This does not in­ clude any extensions. A separate return in­ cludes a return filed by you or your spouse claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status. Separate Returns After Joint Return Once you file a joint return, you cannot choose to file separate returns for that year after the due date of the return. Exception. A personal representative for a de­ cedent can change from a joint return elected by the surviving spouse to a separate return for the decedent. The personal representative has 1 year from the due date (including extensions) of the return to make the change. See Publica­ tion 559 for more information on filing income tax returns for a decedent. Head of Household You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements. 1. You are unmarried or considered unmar­ ried on the last day of the year. See Mari- tal Status, earlier, and Considered Unmar- ried, later. 2. You paid more than half the cost of keep­ ing up a home for the year. 3. A qualifying person lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences, such as school). However, if the qualifying person is your dependent parent, he or she does not have to live with you. See Special rule for parent, later, under Qualifying Person. If you qualify to file as head of house- hold, your tax rate usually will be lower than the rates for single or married fil- ing separately. You will also receive a higher standard deduction than if you file as single or married filing separately. How to file. If you file as head of household, you can use Form 1040. If you have taxable in­ come of less than $100,000 and meet certain other conditions, you may be able to file Form 1040A. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the box on line 4 of either form. Use the Head of a household column of the Tax Table or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet to figure your tax. Considered Unmarried To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmar­ ried on the last day of the year. You are consid­ ered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests. 1. You file a separate return. A separate re­ turn includes a return claiming married fil­ ing separately, single, or head of house­ hold filing status. 2. You paid more than half the cost of keep­ ing up your home for the tax year. 3. Your spouse did not live in your home dur­ ing the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences, later. 4. Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year. (See Home of qualifying person, later, for rules applying to a child's birth, death, or temporary absence during the year.) 5. You must be able to claim an exemption for the child. However, you meet this test if you cannot claim the exemption only be­ cause the noncustodial parent can claim the child using the rules described later in Children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart) under Qualify- ing Child or in Support Test for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents (or Parents Who Live Apart) under Qualifying Relative. The general rules for claiming an exemp­ tion for a dependent are explained later under Exemptions for Dependents. If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state (listed earlier under Married Filing Separately), special rules may apply in determining your income and expen- ses. See Publication 555 for more information. Nonresident alien spouse. You are consid­ ered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet TIP CAUTION ! Page 8 Publication 501 (2014)