topic Tax Year Prior to 2020: Spouse has no ssn. Can't e-file in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Tax Year Prior to 2020: Spouse has no ssn. Can't e-file

zodiacking000 — Tue, 23 May 2023 13:28:02 GMT

I got married to a non-US citizen and she does not live in US and no intention to live in US for the next several years.
Therefore, she does no has a SSN.
How can I skip that and file a tax-return?

If you are a United States citizen (or a Permanent Reside...

GeoffreyG — Sat, 01 Jun 2019 07:43:45 GMT

If you are a United States citizen (or a Permanent Resident) and are married to a non-citizen, who cannot otherwise qualify as a resident alien under either the Substantial Presence Test or the Green Card Test (as explained at the IRS.gov link found directly below), then you have some options on how to file your US tax return, although current United States tax laws do not make this process particularly easy.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/determining-alien-tax-status

It is also helpful to point out that you cannot file a tax return as Single, and ignore your spouse, regardless of residency status. (We mention that fact because we are sometimes asked.) Additionally, it is useful to know that the IRS considers those persons who are married as of midnight on December 31st of the year to have been married the whole entire year, for income tax purposes.

That said, here are your tax return filing choices:

Option # 1: You can file your US tax return as Married Filing Separately, and just report your own income there. TurboTax can walk you through this process, and help you create the necessary Form 1040. If your spouse does not already have an ITIN number, or a Social Security Number, then this return would have to further be printed and paper filed. If your spouse has a valid ITIN or SSN, then the tax return would be eligible for e-filing.

If there is no ITIN or SSN, then in any place where the nonresident spouse's taxpayer ID number is required on a tax form, you would take a black or blue pen and manually write "nonresident alien" or abbreviate as "NRA." In the TurboTax software, you can input any "made up" SSN or ITIN you want to, in order get through the program (we suggest 999-88-9999, 999-88-9998 or 999-88-9987, as those numbers won’t produce any TurboTax program errors in a review check) as a temporary "placeholder.” You can then later "white out" that number when the paper pages are printed.

You can also claim a personal exemption for your spouse, if your spouse had no gross taxable income for U.S. tax purposes, and was not the dependent of another taxpayer. This mirrors the similar rule for US citizens and resident aliens filing as Married Filing Separately to claim the personal (dependency) exemption for their spouse, where that spouse has no taxable income, is not filing a separate tax return, and is not claimed as a dependent on any other taxpayer’s return. But, in order to do this and claim the personal exemption, your spouse must also have a valid Social Security Number or an ITIN.

Option # 2: You can elect to include your nonresident spouse on your US income tax return (which may be more or less tax favorable than Married Filing Separately); and file as Married Filing Jointly; but you would need to file a paper Form 1040 tax return in order to do so. The somewhat complicated process for completing this type of tax return is explained in detail at the IRS.gov website here:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/u-s-citizens-and-resident-aliens-abroad-nonresident-alien-spouse

Such a tax return (Option # 2) is probably best done by a professional tax preparer.

If you choose Option # 1 and have any difficultly with that, then having the tax return prepared by a professional is also an option here too.

TurboTax has a helpful Frequently Asked Questions webpage about claiming international spouses and children, and you may wish to look at that as well. Here is the link:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/Claiming-a-Non-Citizen-Spouse-and-Children-On-Your-Taxes-/INF27549.html

Thank you for asking this important question.

Re: If you are a United States citizen (or a Permanent Reside...

AnuMeer — Fri, 28 Feb 2020 17:53:24 GMT

I'm trying to file my return, and my spouse does not have SSN since he hasn't lived in the US. I'm getting my tax returns back with a rejection code R0000-503-02 indicating spouses SSN is not approved. I've tried [social security number removed], [social security number removed] or [social security number removed] but none of these work. Could you advise how to proceed?

Re: If you are a United States citizen (or a Permanent Reside...

DaveF1006 — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 00:34:58 GMT

Follow these directions carefully. You might need to apply for an ITIN for him. Turbo Tax will give you an option to apply for a W7 in the return. Per IRS, if your spouse is a nonresident alien, he must have either an SSN or ITIN if :

1. You file a joint return or

2. You file a separate return and claim an exemption for your spouse, or

3. Your spouse is filing a separate return.

For filing status, you can file either Married Filing Jointly ( see Nonresident to resident ) or simply Married Filing Separate.

[In the TurboTax program, you would follow the step-by-step interview questions to choose the appropriate filing status, enter your spouse information and leave the SSN blank, after print out the return , you can leave it blank or hand-write APPLIED in the space.]

If you want to file Married Filing Separate, you can qualify for an exemption for your spouse only if:

- Your spouse had no gross income.

-- Your spouse won't file a tax return.

- Your spouse didn't qualify as the dependent of another taxpayer.

Additionally, you cannot e-file a tax return which does not include a SSN or ITIN. If you fall under one of the above conditions, you will have to manually apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number ITIN on Form W-7 for him.

See https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/General-ITIN-Information.

Although you cannot e-file, you can still use the TurboTax program to prepare your tax return and required forms. Then print, attach to the Form W-7 with the required documentation (see the above link) and submit everything to the IRS Austin location in Texas by mail.

Re: Spouse has no ssn. Can't e-file

tessad17 — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 22:10:27 GMT

Hi,

if spouse has no SSN (living overseas) and I choose not to claim him as dependent, can I file as married filing separately and paper file without any w-7? I’ll just write NRA on ssn field.

Re: Spouse has no ssn. Can't e-file

VictorW9 — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 22:22:54 GMT

Not sure what that will achieve. As per IRS regulations you need to apply for a social security number or an ITIN for your spouse if you want to file as MFJ or MFS. For either of the two filing statuses just mentioned, you are going to need an SS or ITIN number.

Re: If you are a United States citizen (or a Permanent Reside...

RigaWriter — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:18:29 GMT

Question for GeoffreyG: The link to Option #2 about filing married filing jointly in your post yielded error 404, page not found. Can you post the correct link? Thanks.

Re: If you are a United States citizen (or a Permanent Reside...

RigaWriter — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 12:19:16 GMT

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/u-s-citizens-and-resident-aliens-abroad... is a broken link. Do you have the correct link? Thanks.