You
can file a joint U.S. tax return with your non-resident spouse and that spouse can
be treated as a U.S. resident for U.S. Federal Individual Income Tax purposes.
Your spouse will have to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
using Form W-7, you will have to file your return by mail (along with the Form
W-7) and you will have to include a statement, signed by both of you, declaring
that one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or
resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that the non-resident spouse chooses to be
treated as U.S. resident for the entire tax year.
How do I apply for an ITIN? Use the latest revision of Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual
Taxpayer Identification Number to apply.
Attach a valid federal income tax return, unless you qualify for an exception,
and include your original proof of identity or copies certified by issuing
agency and foreign status documents.
See Instructions for Form W-7
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 ITIN Operation
P.O. Box 149342
Austin, TX 78714-9342
For additional information, see the IRS web article Nonresident
Spouse Treated as a Resident
Important: You can't prepare and print
a tax return in TurboTax without an ITIN or SSN for you, your spouse and any
dependents.
The work-around for this situation is to use "Dummy" SSN/ITINs for your
dependents. to prepare the return. You can use your own SSN/ITIN
with different last numbers.
Or use "305-44-0001, 0002, 0003 etc.", a dummy number
we use for training.
This should allow you to get through the Smart Checks and
Reviews and print your return for filing by mail. "Erase" or white-out the dummy SSN/ITINs and replace with
"Applied For".
