My wife can no longer sign her name due to severe dementia. How should I proceed signing her name?

[JohnB5677]

Regulations require signatures of both spouses on a joint tax return [Treasury Regulations section 1.6012-1(a)(5)].

However, there is an exception:

If one spouse is physically unable by reason of disease or injury to sign a joint return, the other spouse may, with the oral consent of the incapacitated spouse, sign the incapacitated spouse’s name in the proper place on the return followed by the words “By Husband (or Wife)” and the signature of the signing spouse.

You will have to mail your return because a declaration explaining the circumstances preventing the non signing spouse from signing the return must be attached to such a tax return.

[FranklinS]

What if the spouse can no longer give oral consent?

[Mike9241]

you can't without a Power of Attorney. this is a legal procedure. the means to get a POA varies from state to state. see a lawyer but this will probably take time. the POA would need to be attached and the entire return paper filed

or

you could e-file the return without signature and then prepare form 8453 and attach the POA which has  the following filing requirements if you e-file

If you are filing your tax return using an online provider (ie Turbotax), mail Form 8453 with the POA to the IRS within 3 business days after you have received acknowledgment from your intermediate service provider and/or transmitter that the IRS has accepted your electronically filed tax return. If you don’t receive an acknowledgment, you must contact your intermediate service provider and/or transmitter. Mail to:

Internal Revenue Service
Attn: Shipping and Receiving, 0254
Receipt and Control Branch
Austin, TX 73344-0254

[FranklinS]

My wife who cannot sign has a POA but it is her son who has the POA,  Can he file as POA with IRS and then sign for her on our joint return?

[Opus 17]

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@FranklinS  wrote:

What if the spouse can no longer give oral consent?

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You're kind of in trouble.

Technically, your spouse can't agree to file a joint return if they are no longer competent.  What you should have done is obtain a durable power of attorney while they were still competent, before the disease got too far.  When your spouse is not competent and you do not have a durable POA, you need to get a court order making you their personal representative for legal matters.

The IRS has a special POA form for tax matters, form 2848.  If your spouse did not prepare a signed form 2848 for you, you can use a copy of your POA to file a tax return, but the IRS still wants you to fill out part 2 of form 2848 and attach a copy of the POA.  If you don't have a POA but you do get a court order making you their personal representative, you would send the IRS a form 2848 with part 2 filled out and a copy of the court order.

Technically, this is what you need to do to file a tax return for a spouse who is not mentally competent.  Have a pre-existing POA or get a court order, use form 2848, and file by mail.

As a practical matter, if you e-file jointly with your spouse, there is almost no reason for the IRS to question whether the spouse really consented, so if you e-file without the proper designation, probably no one will ever know.  But it's not technically correct.  

[fanfare]

When you e-File a Joint return, the return is presumed to be signed by both spouses.

@dagard1950 

[Opus 17]

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@fanfare wrote:

When you e-File a Joint return, the return is presumed to be signed by both spouses.

@dagard1950

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While this is generally true, the presumption can be challenged.  For example, suppose this is the spouse's second marriage, and a child from the first marriage challenges the financial arrangements of the couple, or alleges the other spouse is taking advantage of the first spouse's mental disability.

There are also many other good reasons to obtain a power of attorney before a spouse becomes incompetent, or to obtain a court order of guardianship.  This is all part of the advance planning needed when someone is diagnosed with a progressive illness.