@FranklinS wrote:
What if the spouse can no longer give oral consent?
You're kind of in trouble.
Technically, your spouse can't agree to file a joint return if they are no longer competent. What you should have done is obtain a durable power of attorney while they were still competent, before the disease got too far. When your spouse is not competent and you do not have a durable POA, you need to get a court order making you their personal representative for legal matters.
The IRS has a special POA form for tax matters, form 2848. If your spouse did not prepare a signed form 2848 for you, you can use a copy of your POA to file a tax return, but the IRS still wants you to fill out part 2 of form 2848 and attach a copy of the POA. If you don't have a POA but you do get a court order making you their personal representative, you would send the IRS a form 2848 with part 2 filled out and a copy of the court order.
Technically, this is what you need to do to file a tax return for a spouse who is not mentally competent. Have a pre-existing POA or get a court order, use form 2848, and file by mail.
As a practical matter, if you e-file jointly with your spouse, there is almost no reason for the IRS to question whether the spouse really consented, so if you e-file without the proper designation, probably no one will ever know. But it's not technically correct.
