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NO. A spouse is never claimed as a dependent. File a joint return.
Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older) for 2024. You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.
No, your wife is never claimed as your dependent.
The IRS gives married couples the option of filing jointly (MFJ) or separately (MFS) but, filing separate tax returns disqualify taxpayers from certain credits and deductions, which may result in paying more taxes. The most common credits that MFS filing status is not eligible for in Earned Income Credit, American Opportunity Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit and Child and Dependent Care Credit. Additionally, MFS cannot take the Student Loan Interest deduction and the IRS deduction is limited.
Please see the TurboTax article Should You and Your Spouse File Jointly or Separately? For more information.
Before you make the decision to file MFJ or MFS, you can prepare your tax returns both ways. You will need to do three separate tax returns, one for each of you using MFS status then filing MFJ. TurboTax can do the calculation for you if you use the desktop version. Please review the article How to Compare MFS and MFJ?.
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