Error Message: "Married filing joint box should be selected since you indicated your spouse can be claimed as dependent of another person"

[Howard424]

So, I been doing my tax the same every single year, and this 2025 TurboTax version is giving me this error message on Federal Information Worksheet (to my knowledge, it isn't a form to submit to IRS anyways). 

So on the Federal Information Worksheet, Dependent of Someone Else for Wife is checked YES.

And I wanted to file Married Filing Seperately. and SmartCheck tells me this.

"Married filing joint box should be selected since you indicated your spouse can be claimed as dependent of another person"

I checked my 2024 forms, I filled out everything the same and there was problem for 2024.

I always file Married filing seperately, because my wife and I are no longer live together, still married though, and she is claimed as an dependent of my son. My son is her financial support and lives with her.

I am not able to transmit and file my tax due to this error. I called the support and told them something is wrong, but they don't understand, instead, they want me to pay money to get Live Support....

Does anyone know if this is a software bug, some tax law change, or maybe something I did not do right?

Please TurboTax Team also take a look at this.

[Opus 17]

That sounds odd.  Can you go to the Tools or help menu (depending on if you are online or using the desktop version), and choose "send file to agent"?  This will upload an anonymous version of your file to the tech support database and give you a token number.  Post the token number here and I will try and flag this for attention. 

[Opus 17]

Also, even if this is a bug, you should be able to uncheck the box on your spouse's info, and still file separately.  The only reason that box is needed is to make sure that customers who can't file jointly don't try to, but you already know that you will be filing separately.  As long as you select MFS as your filing status, it will not change your tax return whether or not that box is checked. 

[Howard424]

I just sent it. 

Token#: 1346646200-30609389

[Howard424]

I am not able to proceed filing cuz the system is forcing to to select MFJ, and if I checked MFJ the filing status on IRS forms will be modified, which I do not want that, I need file MFS. And II am not able to uncheck anything on my spouse's info since the box is locked and unable to Edit. 

[Opus 17]

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@Howard424 wrote:

I am not able to proceed filing cuz the system is forcing to to select MFJ, and if I checked MFJ the filing status on IRS forms will be modified, which I do not want that, I need file MFS. And II am not able to uncheck anything on my spouse's info since the box is locked and unable to Edit. 

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Just change it to MFJ, exit out of the personal interview, then go back in, edit your spouse's information, then change the status back to MFS.   Even if the "dependent" box is not checked, you should be able to select MFS manually, even though Turbotax may advise you that you might pay less taxes filing jointly. 

Also, for what it's worth, you are always allowed to file jointly with your spouse if you are married, even if you are living apart.  Assuming her income is less than $5200 (which must be the case if she can be claimed as a dependent, unless she is disabled) then you would probably pay a couple thousand dollars less tax by filing jointly.  The one downside is that you become jointly responsible for any facts on the tax return.  If it turns out she is cheating on her taxes (such as, working under the table in order to claim welfare benefits) then you would be stuck with the bill for that if she got caught.  So maybe separate filing is best, only you can know.  But I wanted to point out that joint filing is an allowable option.  The child who claims her would lose a $500 dependent credit but your tax savings would almost certainly be more. 

[Howard424]

I hope I understand your recommendation correctly. I did what you recommended and I wasnt able to bypass this weird error. Ultimately, I am mandated by the system to checkbox yes or no, and I have to do yes on (my spouse is a dependent of another person), and also checkbox yes on (spouse claimed as dependent on that person's return). This is what I was doing this since turbotax 2023 and 2024 and no issue. This 2025 version is doing something weird again the tax law, and things doesn't make sense. Do you think the software team has to take a look at this error?

Thanks for your tax explanation, but I am firm to report MFS on my case.

[rjs]

@Howard424 

TurboTax should not even be asking whether your spouse can be claimed as a dependent on an MFS return. The IRS instructions say that that box (on Form 1040 line 12a) should only be checked if you are filing jointly. That's why Smart Check is flagging it as an error. Your spouse being a dependent has no effect on an MFS return.

What I think you should do is go back to the spouse information and answer No to the question "Can anybody else claim [Spouse] as their dependent for 2025? It won't make any difference in your tax return, and everything else should proceed normally.

[Howard424]

You are correct, and I can actually proceed if I choose No on spouse dependent question. However, It's not my tax return I am worry about, I have zero tax liability. However, my oldest son who lives with her had already filed 2025 tax return as Head of House and claimed her. I don't want IRS to flag my son's tax return if I report she cannot be claimed as dependent on my form. 

I just pull up my 2025, 2024 and 2023 forms and have it side my side on my screen, everything is indentical, which makes me strongly believe Turbotax is bugged. And I must hope I will get a solution before 4/15 deadline.

[rjs]

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@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. 

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@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.

[Howard424]

Thank you for very much again explaining everything. I did what you told me, but I will still hold off filing and wait to see if next update will fix this bug. And, yes I will file it eventually.

I seem to be the first one raised this question for 2025. I am sure there are going to be more people facing simular situation and encounter the same problem. 

I still hope the software team can take a look at this specific SmartCheck issue, cuz I did confirmed my previous year tax forms all looked the same. Again, thank you for taking your time to reply my concerns.

[rjs]

Opus 17 reported the problem to the community moderators yesterday, and they are already looking into it.

[swissmann]

Same problem for me.  I'm helping my daughter with her taxes.  She is married.  She is our dependent.  They are filing separately.  On his 1040 box 12a ("Someone can claim...Your spouse as a dependent") needs to be checked however when doing so Turbotax gives an error on Smart Check "Married filing joint box should be selected since you indicated your spouse can be claimed as dependent of another person".  Unless I'm mistaken this is a bug and not me misunderstanding the tax laws.

[rjs]

@swissmann 

You are right. It's a bug. TurboTax is aware of the problem and they are working on it. See the following link.

Why am I seeing an erroneous "Dependent Eligibility Question" showing for spouse when married filing...

[Howard424]

That’s great to hear problem is being worked on. I am looking forward for the software update soon.