Thank you for the reply, Dave. I understand how the 1040 filing process works. We will not have decided MFS vs MFJ (although MFJ looks better) in time for tax day. What I'm specifically asking about is, which procedure is correct for dealing with my spouse not having an ITIN at the extension phase?
Straight from the 4868 instructions: "If you don’t have an ITIN, enter “ITIN TO BE REQUESTED” wherever an SSN is requested." To me, this reads "you", as in, applying to the person filing the extension. It doesn't reference for the spouse scenario.
If I was planning to MFS (hypothetically), I would not need to supply my spouse's ITIN anyway, correct? Since she doesn't have a filing obligation currently, she'd not need to file her own 4868 extension normally. (Also on the extension, one doesn't even need to indicate planned filing status.)
Hence, my question is can I either leave "spouse SSN/ITIN" as either blank or "ITIN TO BE REQUESTED"?
