I got married in 2015 after a month my spouse left and currently lives in colombia and does not have a social security, can I apply or an ITIN for her and amend my return to married filing jointly even though she lived outside the USA since 2015. I have a Social Security and have been living the states for years legally.
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See below. You would have to file the amended return and the form W-7 with the address for form W-7, not the normal amending address. You may have issues getting the documents and signature you need. And you will owe US income tax on any income she has in Colombia.
You can only file the federal return with this procedure. If you also want to amend your state return, you will need to wait to get the ITIN back in the mail, then you can amend your state return.
If you are a US taxpayer (citizen or resident alien) married to a non-resident alien you have two choices.
You can file as married filing separately. You do not list your spouse as a dependent. Leave the spouse's SSN blank. You will be prevented from e-filing. Print your return, write "NRA" for the spouse's SSN, and mail in your return. Married filing separately has the highest tax rates and many deductions and credits are reduced or disallowed.
Or, you can elect to treat your spouse as a US resident for tax purposes. This means you can file as married filing jointly, which has lower rates and better deductions. But it means you must report and pay US tax on your spouse's worldwide income (subject to a deduction for foreign taxes that they paid). You still can't e-file, and you will have to use a fake SSN to get through the health care section (try 999-88-9999). Then print the tax return, use some white out to blank the fake SSN and write "applied for". Also download and print a form W-7 to apply for an ITIN (international tax ID number) for your spouse. Mail the tax return and the W-7 to the address in the W-7 instructions, not the normal tax return mailing address.
You can't file as single.
More info here,
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/index.html
See below. You would have to file the amended return and the form W-7 with the address for form W-7, not the normal amending address. You may have issues getting the documents and signature you need. And you will owe US income tax on any income she has in Colombia.
You can only file the federal return with this procedure. If you also want to amend your state return, you will need to wait to get the ITIN back in the mail, then you can amend your state return.
If you are a US taxpayer (citizen or resident alien) married to a non-resident alien you have two choices.
You can file as married filing separately. You do not list your spouse as a dependent. Leave the spouse's SSN blank. You will be prevented from e-filing. Print your return, write "NRA" for the spouse's SSN, and mail in your return. Married filing separately has the highest tax rates and many deductions and credits are reduced or disallowed.
Or, you can elect to treat your spouse as a US resident for tax purposes. This means you can file as married filing jointly, which has lower rates and better deductions. But it means you must report and pay US tax on your spouse's worldwide income (subject to a deduction for foreign taxes that they paid). You still can't e-file, and you will have to use a fake SSN to get through the health care section (try 999-88-9999). Then print the tax return, use some white out to blank the fake SSN and write "applied for". Also download and print a form W-7 to apply for an ITIN (international tax ID number) for your spouse. Mail the tax return and the W-7 to the address in the W-7 instructions, not the normal tax return mailing address.
You can't file as single.
More info here,
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/index.html
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