Retirement tax questions

If you were to file as married filing separately, and have no other unusual circumstances, your wife would not be required to file.  However, filing as married filing separately will significantly increase your taxes, because the tax rates are higher for MFS and many deductions and credits are reduced or disallowed.  The only way to know for sure is to test both ways.

 

If you file jointly, you must include all the income for both spouses, no matter how small a specific item might be.