ITIN for a Non-Resident Alien spouse

[siddmar]

I am an international graduate student that holds a Social Security Number. I want my spouse to get an ITIN number, she is also a foreigner.  I am not sure if this is convenient for us, and if we need to file a 1040jointly or separately.

[Carl]

I myself can't help much here, because I'm not familiar enough with how a married couple where only one is a non-resident, files a joint return. But I do know for a fact that a non-resident alien can not file Form 1040. They have to file Form 1040-NR, which TurboTax does not support or provide. Now where my lack of fact is, I don't know under what conditions a non-resident spouse can be "treated like a resident" for tax purposes. But either way, if that NR spouse has U.S. taxable income, they will need an ITIN at a minimum.

Generally starting in Jan, some colleges will have a tax advocate on campus that can answer questions such as yours. So if you don't get a useful response here, ask around at the college to see if the one you attend offers such services at tax filing time. It's also possible you will find another student that had your same experience in a prior year.