A spouse can never be a dependent, for U.S. federal tax purposes.
Please note that J-1 visa holders who substantially comply with
the requirements of that visa, and who do not exceed the duration of their
specific Visitor Exchange Program, are exempt from the Substantial
Presence Test used to determine eligibility for being a resident alien for U.S.
income tax purposes: this means that you are considered a nonresident alien.
As a
nonresident alien you will need to file a Form
1040NR or Form 1040NR-EZ to report any U.S.-source income you have. TurboTax does not support Form 1040NR or Form 1040NR-EZ, so you will
not be able to use TurboTax for your specific tax situation.
You may want
to check out Sprintax, a partner of
TurboTax, who are specifically geared towards international student nonresident
aliens with 1040NR filing requirements - for more information visit
https://www.sprintax.com/non-resident-alien-tax-1040nr-turbotax.html
For more
information about nonresident alien status versus resident alien status, please
see IRS Publication 519, US Tax Guide for Aliens:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf
