Claim Two Wives

[Snaggletooth]

Ken made a post about a ridiculous client who wanted to claim both wives. That one deserves a separate discussion. For those who haven't read it, his customer's wife died early in 2005 and he remarried later in 2005. Client wanted to claim both wives.

Is it ridiculous after all? If he hadn't remarried, he would have been able to claim his dead wife. In fact, he would been entitled to file JOINT. That's a very strong allowance when you stop to consider it. He now has another wife which allows him to file joint and claim his new wife.

Is there anything preventing him from claiming his first wife as a dependent? Not aware if there is but I could just be showing my ignorance. If he had a son or daughter who dies during the year, he is entitled to claim that dependent for the full year isn't he?

Ken, get out of that dry air in AZ and come east and we'll pick something besides our noses...

By the way, I know something about multiple wives. (27 years if you added them all up)

[Bees Knees]

TTB, page 21-7, "If decedent's surviving spouse remarried before the end of the year, the decedent's filing status is MFS."

Sorry, the dead wife has to file her own return as Married Filing Separate.

[Bees Knees]

However....

TTB, page 3-12, "Each spouse claims his or her own exemption. Exception: A taxpayer filing MFS or HOH can claim an exemption for his or her spouse if:
- They are still married at year end,
- spouse had no income and is not filing a return, and
- spouse cannot be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer."


That seems to indicate that if the surviving spouse remarried, he can't claim the dead wife as a dependent because they were no longer married at the end of the year.

Even under the qualifying relative rules, the taxpayer's spouse appears to be the only person that cannot meet the qualifying relative rules for the dependency exemption.

So I would conclude the dead wife is on her own - MFS is the only option for her.

[jainen]

she could file Head of Household

I also thought it a worthy idea, but I doubt you could pull it off. First of all, as Bees Knees points out, unless he married his sister she wouldn't be a qualifying relative.

What if she was the main wage earner and died in June? She didn't live with spouse the last six months of the year, and she paid more than half the household costs for the home where a child lived more than half the year (not pay more than half the year, just more than half the dollars). Then she could file Head of Household.

[Matt Sova]

Sister marryin'

I also thought it a worthy idea, but I doubt you could pull it off. First of all, as Bees Knees points out, unless he married his sister she wouldn't be a qualifying relative.

Sorry, marryin' the sister only counts in Snag's neck o' the woods.

[Safire]

I'm wonderin' how his new bride feels about it.

[Gretel]

Boy, you dig in all graves you can find. Graves are fine but can of worms are not?

Anyway, interesting scenarios.

I have another interesting scenario (something for our friend Burton) I will post as new thread.

[Gary]

Curious

What if a muslim with two wives moves to the US and gets a green card.

What does his tax return look like?

Gary