Newly married and living in different countries filing separately, what information do I need?

zidane172 · ‎June 4, 2019

I'm a US citizen who got married last year to a Canadian. For the entirety of 2017 we've each been working in our respective home countries and have been living separately since tying the knot until we get emigration items addressed. Seeing how she has no US income and I have no Canadian income, would either of us need to file our tax returns as anything other than "single" this year in our home countries? I don't know what the requirements are as far as what each of us needs from the other with our respective governments and filing taxes this year, if we should each be filing "single" due to there being zero overlap on finances or expenditures, or if we would be legally required to file as "married filing separately". If anyone has any words of wisdom (or a handy FAQ on the topic) it would be most appreciated.

DoninGA · ‎June 4, 2019

If you are a US citizen and your spouse does not have a Social Security number or an ITIN and you are not applying for an ITIN with the tax return then you can only file your tax return as Married Filing Separately. Where asked to enter the spouse's Social Security number enter 999-88-9999. You can only print and mail your tax return, it cannot be e-filed. When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the procedure to print and mail a tax return using the online editions - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1944348-how-do-i-print-and-mail-my-return-in-turbotax-online

Newly married and living in different countries filing separately, what information do I need?

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