@Howard424 wrote:
I don't want IRS to flag my son's tax return if I report she cannot be claimed as dependent on my form.
@Howard424
Don't worry about it. Go ahead and file your tax return.
1. The IRS does not do such complex matching. They will not think that your son cannot claim your spouse (at least not because of anything on your tax return).
2. You are not reporting that your spouse cannot be claimed. You are telling TurboTax she cannot be claimed just to get TurboTax to leave the box unchecked, but that "No" answer in TurboTax does not go on your tax return. As far as the IRS is concerned, that box should never be checked on an MFS return. It doesn't apply to MFS. So they are not going to investigate why it's not checked, or whether it should have been checked. Even after TurboTax fixes the bug in the interview, what the IRS sees will be exactly the same as what you produce by answering No.
The error is coming up in Smart Check because there is a conflict between the MFS filing status and the "spouse as a dependent" box being checked on Form 1040 line 12a. According to the IRS a return can't have both MFS filing status and spouse can be claimed. To resolve the conflict, one or the other has to change. The error message says to eliminate the conflict by changing the filing status. In effect, Smart Check is assuming that the checkbox is correct and the filing status is wrong. But it could be the other way around. The conflict can also be eliminated by not checking the box. That's what you're doing.
