My wife and children do not have social security numbers. They have never lived in the United States. This is my first U.S. tax filing. Can I complete this form?

[andrew-william-d]

Can I complete my tax return without SSN numbers for my dependents back in Australia?

[DoninGA]

If the dependent's do not have a Social Security number or an ITIN issued by the IRS then you cannot claim them as a dependent on your tax return.

If you are a US citizen or US resident 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

[Opus 17]

You will generally file as "married filing separately" and report only your own income and deductions.  You must indicate your spouse is a non-resident alien, as indicated in the other answer.

You have the option of treating your spouse as a US resident for tax purposes.  This will allow you to file as married filing jointly, and claim your children as dependents. Joint filing using has lower tax rates than filing separately.  However, if you treat your spouse as a US person, your spouse must report all their world-wide income on your joint US tax return and pay US tax on it.   Your spouse may be able to claim a US tax credit or deduction if they pay taxes on the same income in their home country.  You can also make this election to treat your children as US persons and claim them as dependents, but because they do not have social security numbers, you can only get a $500 per child credit for "other dependent" and not the $2000 per child child tax credit.  To file a joint return and claim the dependents, you must file by mail, and you must include a W-7 form (application for International tax ID number, or ITIN) for your spouse and each child, along with any required proof.

Because of the issue with your spouse's foreign income being taxed in the US, you will have to carefully consider whether or not to file jointly.  See articles below for details. 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/file-taxes-spouse...