pk
Level 15
Level 15

Tax help for military filers

@karic-belma  , my answers are in Italics below:

1. Yes, I am a US citizen (naturalization) with passport. My husband has no connection with the US. We live in Germany, I am a stay at home mom with a 1 year old baby, and he works for Germany already for 8 years. I came here 4 years ago and worked for the US garrison until I gave birth, payed regular taxes so far. 

Do you mean you have been paying US taxes only or was Germany was taxing you ?   Thought because of  armed forces agreements etc.  payments from US  govt. sources are taxable only by US.

 

2. I am trying to file my taxes, even if its zero income, but I am unable to proceed since its the first time I am filling taxes after getting married and I am filling alone, but it does not give me the option to proceed since it is asking me to put in his ssn which he doesnt have nor can i write anything else it brings me back to that article when filling. 

Since your husband is NRA, even if you are living together, you could file  Married Filing Separate ( MFS) or with a qualifying child  as Head of Household ( HoH ).  The HoH  should not require details of your husband  but your child should have SSN -- I am assuming that your child is a US citizen .

If you file MFS, then you will have to file by mail and not e-file.  The steps are as follows:

(a) Prepare the return as per normal using a dummy SSN for your husband plus details like name, DoB etc.

(b) Tell TurboTax that you want to file by mail.

(c) Print the filing copy,  replace the dummy SSN with "  N  R  A", sign , date  and mail in the return.

 

3. shouldnt I do my taxes and file a return even with 0 income or is it not mandatory? 

Generally, and if you were residing in the USA  or have major connections , I would have said there is no requirement to file a return if your  gross income is zero.  However, because  you are living abroad,  filing a tax return would show that you are still maintaining your US connections.  And of course , if you are able to file  HoH, a filing is necessary for getting additional child tax credit. 

 

That is IMHO.

Is there more I can do for you ?    

btw-- where in Germany are you stationed -- I ask because back in early eighties, I lived in a small village called Pech, near Bad Godesburg bei Bonn.