Answer:
b. Married filling jointly
Explanation:
From the question we are informed about taxpayer's spouse who dies in August of the current year. In this case,
the taxpayer's filing status for the current year would be Married filling jointly. Joint return can be regarded as tax return which is been filed with the Internal Revenue Service by two married taxpayers that decide to have a filing status of "married filing jointly" or a widowed taxpayer that decide to have a filing status of " Qualifying Widow "A joint return give room for the
taxpayers to join their tax liability as well as report their income, credits and
deductions on the same joint return.
The joint return rates still validly
apply even two year after the death of a particular spouse, so far the
surviving spouse of the dead spouse does not remarry and still maintains a household as regards a dependent child.