Do I need to put my husband on tax return if he doesn’t have a job ?

[VolvoGirl]

Yes if you are married you enter both of you under My Info even if one spouse doesn't have income.  But a spouse is never a dependent.  You just file a Joint return for the both of you.  If he gets Social Security or unemployment or any income you need to enter it on the Joint return.

[DoninGA]

If you are legally married you should be filing as Married Filing Jointly even if one spouse has little or no income.

[Vanessa A · Accepted solution]

You can choose to file as Married Filing Separately or Married Filing Jointly.  If you choose to leave him off of your return, you would use Married Filing Separately.  When you do this, it does make you ineligible for certain tax credits.  Also, if you file a joint return with him and he has no income, you would likely have a lower tax burden since your standard deduction would be $27,700 instead of $13,850.  This means that much more of your income is not taxed. 

Also, if he doesn't have a job but does get Social Security, then he will need to file a return as filing separately makes 85% of his social security taxable.