Foreign spouse married filing jointly?

[midodo]

I have some questions regarding how to file my taxes this year and my current situation is this:

I am a US citizen and my Japanese wife came to live with me in the US on December 15, 2019. She currently holds an IR1 visa and Soc Sec number, and is waiting for her greencard to arrive in the mail.

She did not work in the US at all in 2019 and has no income here, though she did have income in her home country.

We have been married for many years, but until this year I always filed as MFS because one or both of us were living in Japan previously and it was easier that way.

My questions are, is there anything I have to do as far as declaring her income from her home country? If so, what forms will need to be completed? Is it better to seek help form a CPA for this kind of situation?

Any help is very much appreciated!

[DavidD66]

I recommend you seek the help of a local CPA that deals with taxation of resident and non-resident alien issues.

[midodo]

Thanks so much for your reply!

Is there any one else out there who might be able to offer any insights and/or advice into my situation?

I really appreciate any help!

[KarenJ2 · Accepted solution]

You can choose to file married filing jointly for 2019.  You will need to print your return and mail it to the IRS after attaching your signed choice to file married filing jointly.

Please see page 9 in Publication 519, Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident.  As your wife was a nonresident at the end of tax year 2019, you both can make a choice to file married filing jointly.  You will need to both declare your worldwide income. Also on page 9 is the heading How to Make the Choice.  

To enter her Japanese wages in TurboTax, you need to:

1. Enter foreign earned income in the search bar at the top of the screen and click the Jump to link

2. On the first screen it will ask you what form your foreign income was reported on, you need to check statement from my foreign employer (converted to USD)

3. On the next screen enter your Foreign wages

4. Continue through the screens answering the questions

5. Then you will get the screen,Would you like to Try and Exclude Your Foreign Earned Income, 

6. Enter no

7. The program will tell you that form 2555 will be deleted, say 

Now her foreign wages have been entered into the software.

1. Type in foreign tax credit in the search bar at the top of the screen and click Jump to
2. You will need to click through a number of screens about dividends and interest.  
3. When you get to the screen, Choose the Income Type, click on General Limitation income.  This is the category for wages.
4. Continue through all the rest of the screens entering the country and the foreign tax amount.

[midodo]

Great, thank you so much for your detailed response! I really really appreciate it.

Actually, I have one more question. That whole process sounds a bit complicated, so I'm wondering then if it would be easier to file as MFS this year? I don't really care about getting a bigger refund and just want a more simple return. Would we still have to file some kind of paperwork for her even though she only lived in the US for 15 days last year?

Again, thanks so much, I'm very grateful for your help!

[KarenJ2]

Yes, sure you can always file married filing separately.  

[midodo]

OK, thank you!

So if we file separately, does she also have to file a return even though she had no income in the US and was only here for 15 days?

[KarenJ2]

I apologize for missing that question.  No, she has no 2019 filing requirement in the US.  Nonresidents are only taxed on US source income and she did not have any.