can I be a dependent if my husband's filing for tax returns?

Question

It's tax season, so I thought I'd post a question on tax returns. I have been married to my military husband for almost 20 months. I just got my first social security number this week. I have a couple of questions so please help me out.


1. Can he claim me as his dependent (I don't work), even if I just got my ssn? If so, how much will he get for one dependent? That will just be me though, since we don't have any kids yet.

2. He was deployed for much of 2006, and his paychecks were tax-free. Does that mean he's not getting anything at all?


I'd appreciate all advice.
Thanks!

Answer 1

1. Your husband cannot claim you as a dependent. You can file a joint tax return (Married Filing Jointly) and will normally pay less tax that way. You get two personal exemptions that reduce your taxable income by $3,300 per exemption. You also get the higher standard deduction of $10,300 that further lowers your taxable income.

2. If he was deployed to a designated combat zone, all or most of his income is tax-free while in the designated zone. That income will not be included in Box 1 of his W2 form, nor will there be any taxes withheld for that income.

The military pay he received prior to being deployed to the designated combat zone is taxable and will be listed on Form W2 along with any taxes withheld. He'll still have to file a tax return but he can defer that filing until 90 days after he's redeployed home. There may or may not be any refund due; you'll have to prepare that tax return to know for sure.

His Unit Tax Advisor (every military unit has one) can answer any questions. He may or may not have access to one down-range, but you can contact the UTA at his home station; they'll be only too happy to help.

Answer 2

A spouse can never be claimed as a dependent, but you can file a joint return and get an exemption for each of you. The exemption is $3300 per person.

Whether he gets a refund depends on how much, if anything, he had withheld for federal income tax. The tax will be figured on whatever income he had that wasn't tax-free. If he had more than that withheld, then the rest will be refunded.

Answer 3

If you had an ITIN(taxpayer id) you should go back and ammend his last two years tax returns to include you.

As his spouse you can not be his dependent, however on a joint return you get both excemptions and a higher standard deduction.

If all your husbands income was tax free, he would not have any withholding and would not owe taxes.

Answer 4

first of all you file jointly, on the military pay, there is a worksheet in your tax booklet that will help you figure how much is taxable. if you have trouble understanding the paper work go to h and r block, they will help you.