Classifying Spouse as Real Estate Professional

[Gwyeth Smith]

I am curious if classifying my spouse as a real estate professional can offset ordinary income when filing jointly. She does actually classify as such. We have rental properties in various LLC's and until recently were under the impression that the deductions we could claim against my W2 income was limited to her percentage interest in the LLC's (i.e. since we are 50/50 members in the LLC that only 50% (her share) of passive losses can be deducted against my ordinary income. Can anybody help clear this up for me? Thanks in advance.

Gwyeth

[Ashish Acharya]

@Gwyeth Smith , 
This is the only benefit of having spouse, for tax deduction. Just kidding. 

If she is RE professional, and you file a joint return, you can offset total ordinary income with all the loss from the joint return. 

The use of the plural in Reg § 1.469-9(c)(4) indicates that both spouses on a joint return are considered qualifying taxpayers if one spouse separately satisfies both requirements of RE pro.