I got married at the end of the year and she is a foreign national and I cannot file without her ITIN. Can I file as single since we wed so late in 2016?

[LinaJ2018 · Accepted solution]

No, you cannot file single.  You can file either Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. 

If your spouse does not have an SSN or ITIN, it might be easiest to file Married Filing Separately without claiming an exemption.  You WILL NOT need to apply for an ITIN for her.  If you want to file Married Filing Separate with claiming an exemption or file Married Filing Jointly, you will need to apply for an ITIN.  Regardless which situation you choose, you cannot e-file your tax return.  IRS does not allow e-filing without a SSN or ITIN on the tax return.  You can still use TurboTax program to prepare your tax forms and submit them by mail. 

If you want to file Married Filing Separately without an exemption, 

-In the program, as you enter the information, leave the SSN space blank

-After you complete entering all the required information, print out returns and required forms.  Enter “NRA” in the space for Spouse's identifying number. ( NRA stands for Nonresident Alien) Do not leave the space blank. 

-Submit all the forms and required documents to IRS based on the instructions on your print-out.

If you want to file Married Filing Separately with an exemption, ( This option is only available if your spouse has no US income) or Married Filing Jointly by electing your nonresident spouse to be a resident, see Nonresident to resident, 

-In the program, as you enter the information, leave the SSN space blank

-After entering all your information, print out returns and required forms ( write APPLIED in the SSN space) 

-As TurboTax does not support the Form W-7, fill out the forms by following

 https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/General-ITIN-Information and attach to other required  documentation

-Submit everything including your tax forms and declarations to IRS Austin location in Texas.  ( Form W-7 instructions)

[DoninGA]

If you were legally married as of 12/31/2016 you have to file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

If you are a US citizen and your spouse does not have a Social Security number or an ITIN and you are not applying for an ITIN with the tax return then you can only file your tax return as Married Filing Separately.  Where asked to enter the spouse's Social Security number enter all 9's.  You can only print and mail your tax return, it cannot be e-filed.  When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the procedure to print and mail a tax return using the online editions - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1944348-how-do-i-print-and-mail-my-return-in-turbotax-online