topic Married filing jointly or separately ? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Married filing jointly or separately ?

nabanita2000 — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 18:42:01 GMT

Need help pls..

1. I am a permanent resident and my husband is out of country for his work for whole 2019 should i still go ahead and file status " Married filing Jointly " or "Married Filing single"

2. In case I am filing "Married filing jointly do I need to show his foreign income ? He is paying local tax on his income abroad.

Need suggestions and advice pls.

Re: Married filing jointly or separately ?

Opus 17 — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 19:00:06 GMT

If your spouse is a US citizen he must file and pay taxes on all his worldwide income. He can take a deduction or credit if he pays taxes on the same income to a foreign country. You can either file jointly or separately, usually it is better to file jointly.

Re: Married filing jointly or separately ?

nabanita2000 — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:13:34 GMT

Thanks but my husband is not an US citizen and he is a Visa Holder. Not sure if need to show any income to US IRS when he returned back to his home country ?

Can I still file "Married filing jointly" status ?

Thanks for all your insight

Re: Married filing jointly or separately ?

DoninGA — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:15:59 GMT

@nabanita2000 wrote:

Thanks but my husband is not an US citizen and he is a Visa Holder. Not sure if need to show any income to US IRS when he returned back to his home country ?

Can I still file "Married filing jointly" status ?

Thanks for all your insight

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

If you are filing your tax return as Married Filing Jointly you must apply for an ITIN with the tax return and you would need to be providing a statement with your tax return that you want your Nonresident Alien Spouse Treated as a Resident. See IRS Publication 54 Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad pages 6 and 7 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf

Go to this IRS website for ITIN information - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/general-itin-information