What qualifications are needed to claim a spouse as a dependent? Thanks

When claiming a dependent on a tax return, you are claiming an exemption for that person, largely because you have used your income to help support them during the year. There are actually two types of exemptions claimed on a return - Dependency exemptions and Personal exemptions. Personal exemptions are those you claim for yourself (so long as you don't qualify as a dependent for another taxpayer), and your spouse, if you are married.

On a joint tax return, you can claim an exemption for yourself and your spouse, even if one of you did not work and/or had no income for the entire tax year. This has the same tax benefit as if you were to claim a dependent.

There are also certain cases in which you can claim your spouse's personal exemption if you file a married filing separate tax return. When using the married filing separate filing status, you can claim your spouse's exemption if:
1. Your spouse had $0 gross income for the year.
2. Your spouse is not filing his/her own tax return.
3. Your spouse does not qualify as the dependent of anyone else
(regardless of whether the other person is actually claiming the
Dependent on their tax return.

Being your spouse is the only qualification that's needed!

A spouse is NOT normally considered a dependent. They are in fact considered to be your co-filer (that's the idea behind filing JOINTLY).

Sometimes, you can claim a spouse as a dependent, such as cases where the spouse is a foreign national, but it hardly EVER beats out the advantages of filng jointly.

If you file Married Filing Separately and claim exemption for your spouse then you get an extra deduction of $3,400 for your spouse. Your standard deduction remains $5,350. You can do this only if your spouse has no income.

If you file Married Filing Jointly, then you get extra deduction for spouse and your standard deduction is $10,700. You must report your's and spouse's incomes.

Agreed!