Situation:
Thanks for your interest and help in this issue – gotta love the effects of the COVID.
Regards, Helping Father
Sounds complicated. Since he will file by mail why doesn’t he just sign his return and mail it himself? He can complete the return on TurboTax by entering a fake tax ID for his wife to make the computer happy and then white out that number on the printed copy with the notation “Tax Id not issued “.
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
Thanks for your reply Bsch4477.
Do you have expertise to be able to address my questions 1-4?
Although I didn’t initially explain why the paper copy will be mailed from my US home, the simple reason is our experience with mail coming from China is that it is opened, copied, held, investigated – before it leaves China and typically not delivered.
The IRS does not accept “Tax Id not issued “, although the IRS accepts ‘NRA’. TT does have an algorithm to not accept incorrect SS# or ITIN, although TT does accept triple9, double 8, quad 9.
Which brings me back to the focus on the four questions – the questions are simple enough even though the situation may be complex for some.
Critter-3, thanks for your reply.
Do you have expertise to address my questions 1-4?
Can the father sign as a TaxPreparer for my adult son’s return without his signature, although with his permission? No ... you cannot sign for the taxpayer unless you attach a POA to the return and unless you are a professional tax preparer with a PTIN number you cannot sign as the preparer.
Is the TaxPayer required to sign the return if another signs the return (on their behalf)? Either the taxpayer signs their own return OR the person with the POA signs the return.
If another can sign in place of the TaxPayer, which sections of the 1040 return are signed and what additional notes are required to accompany the other’s signature? Only the taxpayer signature line is used. POA form 2848 is used : https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-2848
What is the IRS source (e.g., Publication, Instruction, etc.) that supports the responses to these questions?
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf on page 63