 looking at the name and address which seems fairly basic fairly straightforward but there are some nuances that we want to touch on and point out here obviously the IRS is going to want when we fill out our tax return our legal name our address and then they're going to want our identification number typically our social security number so that they can turn us into a number and then require that we're going to pay taxes and if we don't pay taxes they know where we live so they can come after us and make us okay so the name and address so you're going to print or type the information in the space provided if you are married filing a separate return enter your spouse's name in the entry space below the filing status check boxes instead of below your name in other words at the top of the form 1040 we're going to have the name information according to the filing status if we're single you would think we would just have one individual and not have a spouse so we wouldn't be putting a name into the spouse's line item however if we're married we might be able to choose to file married filing joint which is the preferred filing status typically but we could choose married filing separately if we choose married filing separately we're still going to have our name as the primary taxpayer on the return but then they still want the name of the spouse typically even though we're filing a separate return and theoretically the spouse would then also have to file a return so that the IRS knows what's going on and can kind of mirror what is happening on their side from both people that are filing a married filing separate return so tip if you filed a joint return for 2022 and you are filing a joint return for 2023 with the same spouse be sure to enter your names and social security numbers which are abbreviated as SSN's whenever you see that in the same order as on your 2022 return in other words usually when you look at the tax return you're going to have to list one name before the other name and traditionally that would be if you're married filing joint the husband would be the primary taxpayer and then the spouse would be also on the return the second name on the return if you flip the order of that and in the following year you put the spouse as the first name primary taxpayer and then the other spouse as the second you're going to confuse the IRS you're potentially and you don't want to confuse the IRS because when you do that then that usually cause delays and problems so you want to keep the ordering typically the same from year to year