No. You can not claim a spouse as a dependent.
You can't claim spouses as dependents whether he or she maintains residency with you or not. However, you can claim an exemption for your spouse in certain circumstances: If you and your spouse are married filing jointly, you can claim one exemption for your spouse and one exemption for yourself.
You and your wife can file a joint federal income tax return even if she doesn't work. Although each couple's tax situation is different, you can generally claim more deductions and credits by filing a joint return.
You don't necessarily have to earn income in order to claim your kids on your taxes. Your eligibility to file a tax return and claim your kids as dependents has no relation to whether you work during the tax year or not. In fact, you can voluntarily file a return even if your lack of income doesn't require you to.
It's perfectly legal to file a tax return even if your income falls below the IRS minimum requirement to file. If you qualify for certain tax credits but owe no tax, you might be able to claim the excess tax credit as a refund when you file your return.
Refundable tax credits can provide you with a tax refund even when you do not work. For example, you may qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit, which are refundable tax credits.
You should file as Married Filing Jointly, as it is the most beneficial filing status for married individuals. The fact that your spouse had no income will help you even more - your income will be reduced by joint standard deduction ($12,600) and by joint exemptions of $8,100.
You can choose married filing jointly as your filing status if you are married and both you and your spouse agree to file a joint return. You can file a joint return even if one of you had no income or deductions.
In most cases you would want to file as MFJ even if one spouse has little of no income. You receive the highest standard deduction of $12,400 and you each receive a personal exemption of $3,950. If you were married in 2015, then you would file as Single on your tax year 2014 return.
To put it even more bluntly, if you file as single when you're married under the IRS definition of the term, you're committing a crime with penalties that can range as high as a $250,000 fine and three years in jail.
Many people are surprised to learn that you can claim most anyone on your taxes as a dependent. It's true. Even if you aren't related, someone who lives with you for most of the year and who you're supporting financially could ultimately still qualify on your taxes.
To claim your child as your dependent, your child must meet either the qualifying child test or the qualifying relative test: To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you and either younger than 19 years old or be a "student" younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
Once you get married, your parents cannot claim you as a dependent if you file a joint return with your spouse (unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid).
File as head of household
To qualify for head of household status, you must be unmarried on the last day of the tax year. You also must contribute more than 50 percent toward the financial support of your home, and your children must live with you for more than six months of the year.
Even if you have no income, you're eligible to receive a stimulus check. If you are over the income limit, you may be eligible for a partial payment. You don't have to be a U.S. citizen to get a stimulus payment, but you do need a valid Social Security number.
If you earn less than $10,000 per year, you don't have to file a tax return. However, you won't receive an Earned-Income Tax Credit refund unless you do file.
The IRS computers look for the names and Social Security numbers of dependents who are claimed on more than one tax return and will take a closer look at both returns and try to determine who has the legitimate claim to the child as a dependent.
Can my domestic partner claim me as a dependent? Yes, your domestic partner can claim you as a dependent on their tax return under qualifying relative rules for determining dependency status. Dependents don't necessarily need to be related to be claimed on tax returns.
Married filing separately is a tax status used by married couples who choose to record their incomes, exemptions, and deductions on separate tax returns. Some couples might benefit from filing separately, especially when one spouse has significant medical expenses or miscellaneous itemized deductions.
Joint filers usually receive higher income thresholds for certain tax breaks, such as the deduction for contributing to an IRA. If you're married and file separately, you may face a higher tax rate and pay more tax. Filing separately may be a benefit if you have a large amount of out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Though most married couples file joint tax returns, filing separately may be better in certain situations. Couples can benefit from filing separately if there's a big disparity in their respective incomes, and the lower-paid spouse is eligible for substantial itemizable deductions.
There's no tax penalty for filing as head of household while you're married.
In most cases, a married couple will come out ahead by filing jointly. “You typically get lower tax rates when married filing jointly, and you have to file jointly to claim some tax benefits,” says Lisa Greene-Lewis, a CPA and tax expert for TurboTax.