You’re not asking the right question. You should be asking whether your spouse is your employee. Under the circumstances described, where your spouse is working solely for you and you have control over the work being done, it is likely that your spouse is your employee rather than an independent contractor. In this case, you must adhere to all employer obligations, including tax withholding, paying payroll taxes, and issuing a Form W-2.
A tax technique of applying a loss or credit from a current year to a later year. For example, a business net operating loss may be carried forward 20 years instead of being carried back.