Tax law states because you are married, you must file your taxes using either the Married Filing Jointly status or Married Filing Separately status. Your wife, will be considered a nonresident alien. If your spouse passes the “substantial presence test”, you can elect to treat your spouse as a resident alien. As a resident alien, you have two choices in filing your taxes.
• Treat your wife as resident alien for tax purposes. If you do this, you will need to include your wife’s worldwide income in your US tax return and it will be subject to US taxes. To do this follow these steps.
Attach a statement to your tax return, signed by both spouses, that states that one spouse is a nonresident alien and the other is a U.S. citizen or resident alien, and you are choosing to both be treated as US residents for the tax year.
List the name, address and Social Security number (or Individual Taxpayer Identification number) of each spouse. If your spouse does not have a social security yet but is eligible to have a number issued to her, apply for a number by completing form SS-5. (
https://www.ssa.gov/forms/).
If your spouse is not eligible to apply for a Social Security number, complete a Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) (
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf). This form will be attached to your tax return. Turbo Tax does not support the Form W-7. You can complete it outside of Turbo Tax. You will have to print, sign and mail your return in.
For the first year you make the choice, you have to file a joint return. In later years you can file joint or separate returns. Married Filing Jointly will give you a higher standard deduction and has other benefits that are not available using a married filing separately status.
• Treat spouse as nonresident alien for tax purposes. You will not have to include your spouse’s non-US income on your U.S. tax return. You will have to use the filing status of Married Filing Separately.
Note - If you file as Married Filing Separately AND your spouse has no income from sources within the US AND is not claimed as a dependent of another US taxpayer, you CAN claim an exemption for your wife. You will need to get an Individual Taxpayer Identification number for your spouse before filing the return by completing the W-7 form. (
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf)
The IRS formula for substantial presence is:
“you must be physically present in the United States (U.S.) on at least:
• 31 days during the current year, and
• 183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before that, counting:
• All the days you were present in the current year, and
• 1/3 of the days you were present in the first year before the current year, and
• 1/6 of the days you were present in the second year before the current year.”
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/Claiming-a-Non-Citizen-Spouse-and-Children-...
