My wife passed away on July 9th 2023, why can I not claim her as a dependant?

[BillM223]

You cannot ever claim your wife as a dependent. Instead, you file 2023 as married jointly (which is better taxwise than a dependent anyway).

We are sorry for your loss.

[DoninGA]

A spouse can never be claimed as a dependent.

When entering your personal information in the My Info section, you select that you are Married and that you will be filing the return with your spouse (Filing Jointly)

When entering your spouse's information you will come to a screen where one of the questions ask if the spouse passed away.  Select that they passed away and then enter the date of passing.

When a spouse passes away in 2023 you can file as Married Filing Jointly on the 2023 tax return.