Divorced Last Year: First Full Year Filing Separately

Your first complete tax year filing separately from your ex-spouse brings significant changes to brackets, deductions, and credit availability.

Review your 2025 return carefully. Your first post-divorce filing is the one most likely to contain errors. Common misses: incorrect filing status, failing to adjust withholding mid-year, and not accounting for the basis of transferred assets. If you filed as single but had qualifying dependents, you may have missed the more favorable head of household status.

Basis records from the settlement. Every asset you received in the divorce carries your ex-spouse's original cost basis. If you sold any of those assets in 2025, the gain or loss calculation depends on documentation you may not have thought to collect during the divorce process. If you haven't sold yet, get that documentation organized now.

Withholding and estimated taxes. Your first full year filing as a single taxpayer often reveals a gap. Married withholding tables assume two incomes sharing brackets. If your employer is still using old W-4 settings, you may owe more than expected or need to start making quarterly estimated payments.

The pitfall: The biggest miss isn't on the return you already filed -- it's failing to amend if your original preparer didn't account for the divorce properly. Amended returns have a three-year window.