1. The most advantageous filing status for spouse A and spouse B to use is married filing jointly. 1. Spouse A and B may only choose from the married filing jointly or married filing separately statuses. Under married filing separately the spouses would start accruing taxes against their income sooner. For example under married filing separately a spouse would only be able to earn $8,925.00 of taxable income before they would be progressed to the next tier of the income tax bracket. Under married filing jointly the spouses could earn $17,850.00 of taxable income before they would be progressed to the next tax bracket. These figures were based on the IRS income tax guidelines for the year 2013. (Phillips Erb). They will qualify for 2 personal exemptions, and 3 dependent exemptions. The children meet the IRS' qualifying child requirements based on school status, age requirements and income requirements. The mother cannot be claimed as a dependent based on the qualifications of a qualifying relative. Her income from Social Security checks enable her to provide more then 50% of her living expenses and she therefore does not meet the support test. 1. For the children they can be claimed as exemptions as long as they meet the relationship test (i.e. son/daughter, step child, foster child, brother/sister or half sibling to the filer.) If the child meets the relationship test they then must live with the filer for more then half the year (absences for school, vacation, medical care, or for military reasons do not count against the abode test. Once the abode test is passed then the child must meet the age test. (i.e. child must be under 19 years of age unless enrolled full-time in school or government training program in which case the child must be under the age of 24.) If the child in question meets all these rules, they must not supply more then half of their own