Your spouse cannot be claimed as your dependent. However, if you are filing married filing separately, you can claim your spouses exemption if the following applies:
- You are filing using the married filing separate filing status.
- Your spouse
doesn’t have income or a tax return filing requirement.
You can get the same tax benefit by filing using the
married filing joint status. The married filing separate filing status has the
least advantageous tax brackets, your child tax benefits are lowered
significantly, and you loose the earned income credit. You will get a much
better refund if you file with your husband using the married joint status.
