Question on MFJ and Resident Status

[zeeshan1982]

I am filing MFJ since I got married in 2016. My wife however, was not in the US and entered the US in 2017. When I enter all this information in TurboTax, it selects MFJ status for me. However, at the end, it keeps telling me there is an error on the return. Not sure how to proceed?

[bine22]

So your wife was not a US citizen, permanent resident or resident alien in 2016? Does she have an SSN or ITIN?

[zeeshan1982]

Yes, she does now. She came in Feb and is now a Permanent Resident and has an SSN.

[bine22]

but what was her status in 2016?

[zeeshan1982]

She was not a US citizen, permanent resident or resident alien in 2016. She was living outside of the US waiting for her visa.

[bine22 · Accepted solution]

Your spouse was a nonresident alien for 2016. Nonresident aliens cannot file a joint return, so you would file as married filing separately.

However, since you are a US citizen, you can also both make the choice to treat her as a resident alien. This choice is made by adding a statement to the return, so you cannot efile. By making that choice your spouse will have to report her worldwide income on the return as well, but can use the foreign paid tax credit or foreign earned income exclusion.

Since your wife has an SSN, you should be able to fill out all info without error messages. If you are still getting an error, what exactly does it say?

[zeeshan1982]

Thanks for the answer. Yes, I would like to file MFJ by treating her as a resident for tax purposes. When I click on the error message, it takes me to what looks like the actual tax form (the one on paper) and it asks me to enter a current year date for when she entered (I am entering 2/20/2017). It also has "I lived in the US for part of the year" automatically selected.

[bine22]

Is hat for the state return? The federal return would not ask for the date she entered. What state are you in?

[zeeshan1982]

California

[bine22]

since your spouse was a nonresident of the state. you would file as married filing separately for CA.

[zeeshan1982]

Got it, thanks