My wife has no social or a tax id

[musdereklis]

My wife is unemployed, she is a Greek citizen and has no social security or ITN number. This was not an issue last year when i filed my income tax return. I am a US citizen and so is my son who has a social security number.

[bine22]

do you all live in the US or abroad? What was your filing status last year?

[mesquitebean]

@bine22
For some reason, user started another thread at the link below instead of sticking with this one.
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4124004-my-wife-is-not-a-us-citizen">https://ttlc.intuit.com/quest...>

[mesquitebean]

In the other thread user said he filed last year as "Head of Household" but that he's not seeing that option this year.

In yet a third thread he says "live in Greece" but doesn't say what time period.
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4123776-live-in-greece-earned-income-as-a-self-employed-person">ht...>

[TaxGuyBill]

In order to claim Head of Household in your situation, 'lie' to TurboTax and say you did NOT live with your wife for the last 6 months of the year, and you do NOT want to file a Joint tax return.  That should allow Head of Household.

If it asks for your wife's SSN/ITIN when you are in the Health Insurance section, you need to TEMPORARILY enter a 'fake' ITIN (such as 999-88-9999) for your wife (in the beginning of the TurboTax interview, where you entered your personal information).  After you get through the Health Insurance section, then go back and delete the 'fake' ITIN.  When you get to the end 'Review', it may still flag it as an error, but you can ignore the error.

As a side note, if your wife does not have any income, you may consider getting an ITIN, making the election to treat her as a US Resident and file a Joint tax return.  The results would likely be slightly better than Head of Household.  If she has income, then that may not be the best option.
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch01.html#en_US_2016_publink1000222193">https://www.irs.gov/pu...>

[musdereklis]

SEE NO HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD HEAD OR 6 MONTH STAY

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

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.

You do not have to provide any spouse SSN or ITIN if you file as head of household, but that requires that you live apart from your spouse AND provide care in your home for a qualifying child dependent who lives with you more than half the year.  It may be that the reason you did not have to provide a tax number last year is that you (correctly or incorrectly) filed as single, or as head of household.  If you filed as single last year, you have to go back and amend last year's tax return.

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/individuals/international-taxpayers/u-s-citizens-and-resident-aliens-abroad-nonr...

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/index.html

https://www.irs.gov/uac/about-form-w7

[TaxGuyBill]

One slight clarification:  Head of Household *IS* an option if you are married to a Nonresident Alien (assuming you have the qualifying dependent and meet the other requirements of Head of Household).
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2016_publink1000220792">https://www.irs.gov/pu...>

[Opus 17]

I never said it wasn't.   One interpretation of the taxpayers question here is that they filed head of household last year but can't file head of household this year. Then it becomes necessary to consider whether they qualify this year, or whether they didn't qualify last year.

[TaxGuyBill]

You had mentioned the 'usual' requirement of not living with your spouse for the last 6 months of the year.  Although I didn't phrase it well, I was trying to clarify that is not a restriction if the spouse is a Nonresident Alien.  You can live with your Nonresident Alien spouse all year and still file as Head of Household (if you meet the other requirements).

[Opus 17]

Hm.   Well, that obviously only applies to US taxpayers who are living abroad. If the US taxpayer and the alien spouse lived together in the US, the spouse would be a resident alien, not a nonresident alien.

[TaxGuyBill]

In most cases, yes (unless the spouse has been in the US for less than 6 months or has an 'exempt' visa, such as a F-1 visa).

However, in another one of the OP's multiple posts, he said "Live in Greece", which implies he is living abroad, so the spouse is likely a Nonresident Alien.