TY2014 Rate Table and Standard Deduction Change re "Surviving Spouses" ??

A change in wording... not a change in the definition. You still must have a dependent child. See actual code below:

a) Definition of surviving spouse (1) In general For purposes of section 1, the term "surviving spouse" means a taxpayer-- (A) whose spouse died during either of his two taxable years immediately preceding the taxable year, and (B) who maintains as his home a household which constitutes for the taxable year the principal place of abode (as a member of such household) of a dependent (i) who (within the meaning of section 152, determined without regard to subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B) thereof) is a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of the taxpayer, and (ii) with respect to whom the taxpayer is entitled to a deduction for the taxable year under section 151. For purposes of this paragraph, an individual shall be considered as maintaining a household only if over half of the cost of maintaining the household during the taxable year is furnished by such individual.

No, you can't.

They may be changing the language, but they haven't changed the definition in the Internal Revenue Code. You still need to have a dependent child to use the MFJ tax table/standard deduction. And it's only good the first two full years after the spouse's death, anyway.

Somehow I knew it was too good to be true :-(

Thanks for response.

So it is only good for 2 years anyway ? Oh well, looked good for awhile. I did see later that the 2013 version of the .pdf above also had the SS wording, but the 2103 1040 has the QW w/DC wording. So it's nothing new, apparently.

Thanks for response.