Yes, you can file jointly. Just be aware that she will need to report any worldwide income in USD on your jointly filed tax return.
If you are a US citizen or resident alien and you
are considered married as of the end of the calendar year, you will only be
able to file as either married filing separately or jointly.
Click here for more
information about Claiming
Non-Citizen Spouse and Children On Your Taxes.
To include your
nonresident alien (NRA) spouse on your tax return, if your NRA spouse does not
have a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification
Number (ITIN), you will need to apply for one. To apply for an ITIN, you would
use Form W-7 and would need to attached your tax return to this form (see
below). Please note, you will not qualify
for the Earned
Income Credit (EIC) without a valid Social Security number (not an ITIN)
for yourself, your spouse (if filing jointly), and any qualifying children.
You have 3 main options for filing your income tax
return:
-
Option 1 -
Married Filing Jointly and you claim an exemption for your NRA spouse. Your NRA spouse will
be treated as a US resident alien for US tax purposes and all of your
spouse's worldwide income in USD will be subject to being taxable as
a US citizen or resident alien.
Additionally, if you
file as married filing jointly and your NRA spouse lives outside the US and
meets the Bona
Fide Residence Test or the Physical
Presence Test, your NRA spouse might be able to claim an IRS
- Foreign Earned Income Exclusion that would exclude a portion of your
NRA spouse's foreign source earned income (up to $101,300 for 2016).
TurboTax will guide you on taking the foreign earned income exclusion when you
enter your NRA spouse's foreign source income under Federal Taxes> Wages and
Income>I'll choose what I work on (or jump to full list)> Less Common
Income (show more)> Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion. (Your military pay is considered US-sourced income so your military pay will not be eligible for the foreign earned income exclusion. However, any non-military pay earned outside the USA may be eligible, if you also meet the foreign earned income exclusion requirements.)
The Internal
Revenue Service has no official exchange rate. The IRS will normally accept any
posted exchange rate that is used consistently. You can translate the foreign
currency to U.S. dollars using the yearly average currency exchange rate for the
tax year. In general, use the exchange rate prevailing (i.e., the spot
rate) when you receive, pay or accrue the item.
Please refer to the
following IRS links for more information about Foreign
Currency and Currency Exchange Rates and Yearly
Average Currency Exchange Rates
Please note : If you have foreign bank
accounts, you may be required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and
Financial Accounts (FBAR) if are a US citizen or resident and:
- you had a financial
interest in or signature authority over at least one financial account
located outside of the United States; and
- the aggregate value of all
foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the
calendar year reported.
To be directed to
the US Treasury Government Website to prepare a Report of Foreign Bank and
Financial Accounts, click FBAR
(TurboTax does not support this form)
Here are some additional steps for filing married
filing jointly if spouse needs an ITIN.
- leave NRA spouse's SSN blank
and print a paper copy of your tax return.
- skip error check section if
only error is missing SSN for spouse.
- under the file tab, you will
need to select "file by mail" and print a copy of your federal
income tax return.
- attach a statement, signed by
both spouses, to your joint return for the first tax year for which the
choice applies (Nonresident Spouse Treated as
a Resident).
It should contain the following information:
- A declaration that one
spouse was a non-resident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or
resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that you choose to
be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year.
- The name, address, and
identification number of each spouse.
- apply for NRA spouse’s
Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) using Form
W-7 (Click ITIN). (You will need to apply
for a ITIN if filing married filing separately and taking an exemption for
NRA spouse and that NRA spouse does not have a SSN. (see option 3 below))
- attach a copy of your Form
W-7 (along with the necessary supporting documents) to your tax return
(For the supporting documents, one option is for your NRA spouse to get a
certified copy of his/her passport which will need to be
included with your tax return filing.) Click here for IRS
website ITIN - Frequently Asked
Questions .
- mail your tax return along
with your declaration statement, Form W-7 and supporting documents to
the IRS. According to the IRS, because you are filing your tax return as
an attachment to your (ITIN) application, you should not
mail your return to the address listed in the Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ
instructions. Instead, send your return, Form W-7 and proof of identity
and foreign status documents to:
Internal Revenue Service
Austin Service Center
ITIN Operation
P.O. Box 149342
Austin, TX 78714-9342
You may also apply for an ITIN using the services of an
IRS-authorized Acceptance Agent or visit some key IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center in lieu of mailing your
information to the IRS in Austin.
-
Option 2 -
Married Filing Separately (includes head of household (HoH), if you
have a "qualified relative"- see US citizens
and Resident Aliens Abroad - Head of Household) and you
are NOT taking an exemption for your NRA spouse.
- leave NRA spouse's SSN
blank.
- hand-write "NRA"
in all of the places on your tax return that require your NRA spouse's
SSN (IRS - Married Filing
Separately).
- skip the error check section
as long as your only error is missing spouse's SSN.
- mail in your return (you
will not be able to efile your tax return so choose "file by
mail" in TurboTax).
- mail to IRS address printed
with your return.
Option 3 -
Married Filing Separately (or HoH) and you claim an exemption for your NRA
spouse (You can
claim an exemption for your spouse only if your spouse had no US source
income, isn't filing a US tax return, and isn't the dependent of another
person other than yourself).
- leave NRA spouse's SSN blank
(if no SSN or ITIN).
- skip the error check section
as long as your only error is missing spouse's SSN.
- If your NRA spouse does not
have a SSN or ITIN, under the file tab, you will need to select
"file by mail" and print a copy of your federal income tax
return.
- apply for NRA spouse’s
Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) using Form
W-7 (Click ITIN) (see above for information
about filing a Form W-7 with your tax return.)
- mail in your return with
Form W-7 to the IRS address listed above.
-
State filing
-
If you’re in the
military, your resident state is your state of legal residency (SLR). Your SLR
is usually your home of record – the state recorded by the military as your
home when you joined the military.
Since she is not covered under MSRRA, she will not be able to claim your state of
legal residency (SLR) as her state of residence. (Your SLR is usually your home of record – the state recorded by the
military as your home when you joined the military.) In this case, you will need to file your state return as married filing separately.
You
would still be able to file your federal income taxes jointly but you would
file your state income taxes as married filing separately.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3301995
