The program is designed to prepare tax returns for all family members together.
The first person whose name is displayed is referred to as the "family head".
When the program interacts with you, it is actually addressing the family member whose tax return is currently being prepared or viewed, not necessarily the person who is actually sitting at the computer and entering the data. If you are entering information for another member of your family, it is that person whom the program is interviewing and dealing with throughout the process.
In
order to maximize tax savings, prepare the tax returns of all family members
together. There are a number of credits such as tuition expenses and education
amounts as well as disability and age amounts which may be transferred between
spouses, or between parents and children. Some deductions, such as medical
expenses and charitable donations, may be pooled to reduce the taxes owed by
the family as a whole. When the program knows about all family members living in the
same house and their respective tax situations, it is able to find and apply
all possible deductions, credits and transfers. In order to help optimize your family's taxes by maximizing refunds and/or minimizing balances due, tax information is entered for each family member respectively. For instance, tuition and education expenses will initially be entered in the file of the student, and child care expenses in the file of the child. Then, the program determines the best treatment of credits and deductions and, if preferable, transfers the relevant amounts accordingly from one family member to another.
To add a spouse or a dependant, go to the section titled Family members near the top left of the interview screen and click Add family member. Select spouse or dependant, as relevant, and go through the interview pages for this person.
To switch to the file of another member of your family, simply click on the family member's name in the "Select a family member" menu located in top left-hand corner of the screen.
For information on processing your tax return separately from your spouse's, click here.
For information on who is a dependant and how to best prepare a dependant's return click here.