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at all times during the year are each allowed a $12,500 maximum special allowance for losses from passive real estate activities. See Rental Activities in Pub. 925, Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules. Community property states. Community property states include Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you live in a community property state and file separately, your income may be considered separate in- come or community income for income tax pur- poses. See Pub. 555. 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 1040-X. You can generally change to a joint return any time within 3 years from the due date of the separate return or returns. This doesn't include any extensions. A separate return includes a re- turn filed by you or your spouse claiming mar- ried filing separately, single, or head of house- hold filing status. Separate Returns After Joint Return Once you file a joint return, you can't 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 Pub. 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, your dependent parent doesn't have to live with you. See Special rule for parent, later, under Qualifying Per- son. If you qualify to file as head of house- hold, your tax rate will usually 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. TIP How to file. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the “Head of household” box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form 1040 or 1040-SR. If the child who qualifies you for this filing status isn't claimed as your dependent in the Dependents section of Form 1040 or 1040-SR, enter the child's name in the entry space at the bottom of the Filing Status section. 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 didn't 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 your spouse is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Tem- porary 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 the child as a dependent. However, you meet this test if you can't claim the child as a dependent only because 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 Qualifying Child or in Support Test for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents (or Parents Who Live Apart) under Qualify- ing Relative. The general rules for claiming a child as a dependent are explained later under Dependents. If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state (listed earlier under Mar- ried Filing Separately), special rules may apply in determining your income and expenses. See Pub. 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 don't choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse isn't a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as head of household. Choice to treat spouse as resident. You are considered married if you choose to treat your spouse as a resident alien. See chapter 1 of Pub. 519. Keeping Up a Home To qualify for head of household status, you must pay more than half of the cost of keeping up a home for the year. You can determine whether you paid more than half of the cost of keeping up a home by using Worksheet 1. Costs you include. Include in the cost of keeping up a home expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home. Costs you don't include. Don't include the cost of clothing, education, medical treatment, CAUTION ! Cost of Keeping Up a Home Worksheet 1. Keep for Your Records

Amount You Paid Total Cost Property taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ $ Mortgage interest expense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Utility charges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Repairs/maintenance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Property insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Food eaten in the home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Other household expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ $ Minus total amount you paid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( ) Amount others paid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ If the total amount you paid is more than the amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than half the cost of keeping up the home. Page 8 Publication 501 (2022)