My wife is my dependent and she is a home maker earning no money. My tax filing to IRS has been done through 1040 EZ by turbotax. Is this correct?

[deepaksaseendran]

Will i have to amend my return using 1040?

[jerry2000 · Accepted solution]

No, it is not correct.
You can not ever claim your spouse as a dependent. Never.
You can not claim a spouse as a dependent.
See page 11 of IRS Publication 501 which says:

“Your spouse is never considered your dependent.”

You can find IRS Pub 501 at this link:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

What you do is to file as Married Filing Jointly, and you can do that even if your spouse has no income.

[VolvoGirl]

When you file a Joint return you get an exemption for each of you.  An exemption is the same as claiming a dependent.  So how did you file?  As Married filing Separate?  Or something else?

[deepaksaseendran]

Turbo tax filed mine as married filing jointly with 1040 ez form while last year my tax agent filed mine with just 1040. This is why i am confused. Also when i say my wife as my dependent, i meant in the broader sense that she depends on my salary. Thank you for clarifying that part on dependent. I am confused if the correct 1040 form was used.

[VolvoGirl]

Ok so Joint is right.  Glad that's cleared up.  You can file on any of the 3 kinds of 1040
There is 1040EZ, 1040A and the full 1040.  Turbo Tax picks the right one for you depending on what kind of income and deductions you have.  

Your tax person could have used the full 1040 even though you only needed to use the 1040EZ form.  That's ok.  It's ok to use the more advanced form even though you qualify for the simpler version.  But you can't use a lower version if you need all the sections and deductions on the full 1040.  I hope that makes sense.

[deepaksaseendran]

Thank you for clearing this.