Filing jointly: I’m a U.S. citizen, my wife is a NR alien. Can we e-file, or do we need to mail it in with a signed stat. electing to treat her as a res. for tax purp.?

[naida_softic]

We’re filing jointly as a married couple for the first time. I’m a U.S. citizen and my wife is a non-resident alien. I understand that we need to include a statement electing to treat her as a resident for tax purposes in order to file jointly. My question is: can we still e-file in this case, or does this require a paper submission? Also, does TurboTax generate that election statement automatically, or would we need to print and sign it separately before submitting?

[KeshaH]

The return can be filed electronically unless your wife doesn't have a taxpayer ID. If she doesn't have an ITIN or SSN, she will need to apply for one. You'll need to print and mail your return along with the TIN application. To prepare the return in TurboTax, you can use a placeholder TIN. After printing, delete the TIN before mailing.

[pk]

@naida_softic ,

(a) is your spouse  living with you  or is she in her home country ?  If so which country ?

(b) does she have a tax id   ( ITIN )  -- whether she is living here in the USA or not  ?

While your answer to my questions may modulate my answers a bit , but in general :

1.  She needs a tax id  to be able to file  with you   ( ITIN request  W-7 )

2.  For MFJ  ( and thereby get the full standard deduction  at least ), her world income must come under US tax.

3. If she is abroad and has income, her income may be excluded  under Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

But all of the above would need you to file by mail.

I will circle back once I hear from you