Can my husband claim me as a dependant if we file seperate returns. ?

Question

I work 8 hours a week and my check goes directly to a Fed tax debt. We file separately because I don't want him to be liable for my debt. He pays all bills so I would say he supports me 100%.

Answer 1

no, not if you file separately.

Answer 2

No, a spouse is never a dependent.  If you had NO income (which is not the case) he might be able to claim an exemption for you on a separate return, but it wouldn't make much sense for him to file separately.

He wouldn't be liable for your debt by filing a joint return with you for a later year anyway.  He can file an injured spouse form along with a joint return, and would get the part of the joint refund that is due to his income and withholding.

Answer 3

You need to ask this of a tax professional, not the idiots here.

Answer 4

He can't claim you.

If a spouse has $0 (ZERO) income, he can.  You are working, so he can't.

If the two of you file MFS, each of you claims your standard deduction ($5350 or 1/2 of joint deduction--unless you itemize) and your personal exemption ($3500).  If you have children, he can claim them.  If there are itemized deductions, you would divide these based on paid what--so if he itemizes and claims all of them, you would claim $0.

PS, you should always try the taxes both ways.  On separate returns there are items you can't claim (education credits and EIC) that you can claim on a joint return.  The difference can range from $0 to several thousand dollars.  I would hate to leave a lot of money on the table just because you owe back taxes.

If you file jointly, there is a form 8379 (injured spouse) that allocates a refund between you and your husband.  For all but a few states, this would allow your refund to go to the tax debt and his refund would be sent back to him.  This addes 3 months to processing.  (The states that this doesn't work well with are the community property states such as California.)

Answer 5

No. Spouses are not dependents.