I know the general rule is that the same filing names and order should be maintained from year to year. Does this hold when the husband has been listed first for years in a joint return but he dies in 2009? It seems to me that the widow would become the taxpayer and he would be listed as the deceased spouse. That would reverse the order of the names but I don't know if that will raise any flags with the IRS. It's a fine point since there is little income and no tax due but the widow is extremely anxious about everything and I don't want to aggravate the situation by causing an IRS letter to come thru her door, even it's for a simple question like this.
Thanks.