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My wife and I were married this year, she does not make enough to file. I do not seem to be able to get the marriage credit or her as a dependant? What am I missing?

 
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My wife and I were married this year, she does not make enough to file. I do not seem to be able to get the marriage credit or her as a dependant? What am I missing?

Generally you should be filing as "married filing jointly".  This is one combined return listing both spouses, and all your combined income, deductions and credits.  This is recommended even if your spouse has no income or lower income than yours.  There is no separate "marriage credit" and you never claim your spouse as a dependent.

Your other option is to file as "married filing separately."  This means two separate returns, one listing your income and deductions, and one listing your spouse's income and deductions.  Filing separately usually results in owing more tax or getting a smaller refund because it has higher tax rates and many deductions and credits are reduced or disallowed.  If you use the standard deduction when filing separately, your spouse does not have to file if their income is less than $12,000, but if you itemize your deductions, you spouse must also itemize, even if they have zero deductions, and must file if their income is more than $5.  You never claim your spouse as a dependent when filing separately, either.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901139-can-i-claim-myself-or-my-spouse-as-a-dependent

If you want to file separately, each return needs a separate Turbotax account with a different user name and password, and if you don't qualify for free filing, you will pay two sets of fees.

Hal_Al
Level 15

My wife and I were married this year, she does not make enough to file. I do not seem to be able to get the marriage credit or her as a dependant? What am I missing?

You should file as Married filing Jointly (MFJ). Although she doesn't have enough income to file on her own, her income must be included on your MFJ return.

There is no such thing as a "Marriage credit".  You are also not allowed to claim a spouse as a dependent. But using the MFJ filing status gets you lower tax rates and a bigger standard deduction (twice the amount of a Single or Married Filing separately [MFS] standard deduction).

You may be tempted to file MFS, so that you don't have to include her income. Don't do it.  None of her income will effectively be taxed, even though it has to be reported on a MFJ return. The bigger standard deduction wipes  out all her income and  some of your income too.

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