No, she *did* file a return showing zero income. I'm not really sure why, but that ship has sailed. She filed as married filing separately. That's why the discrepancy between the two seems to matter. She did file a return, but not a joint return.
I agree that the second one is oxymoronic. The literal interpretation of the first would seem to indicate i cannot take the exemption. So perhaps I should just go with that. I still don't understand why it would matter that she filed a return. I get why it would matter if she filed a joint return. I don't get why it matters if she files a separate one showing no income. But that does seem to be the literal interpretation in the instructions. I can't find any further update, and the second one above is from 2013.
