You usually can deduct $3,650 on line 26 for each exemption you can take. You may also be able to take an additional exemption amount on line 26 if you provided housing to a person displaced by the Midwestern storms, tornadoes, or flooding.

Check the box on line 6b if either of the following applies.

1. Your filing status is married filing jointly and your spouse cannot be claimed as a dependent on another person's return.
2. You were married at the end of 2009, your filing status is married filing separately or head of household, and both of the following apply.
   1. Your spouse had no income and is not filing a return.
   2. Your spouse cannot be claimed as a dependent on another person's return.

If your filing status is head of household and you check the box on line 6b, enter the name of your spouse on the line next to line 6b. Also, enter your spouse's social security number in the space provided at the top of your return. If you were divorced or legally separated at the end of 2009, you cannot take an exemption for your former spouse. If, at the end of 2009, your divorce was not final (an interlocutory decree), you are considered married for the whole year.

If your spouse died in 2009 and you did not remarry by the end of 2009, check the box on line 6b if you could have taken an exemption for your spouse on the date of death. For other filing instructions, see Death of a taxpayer on page 81.