My suggestion in this case is to file Married Filing Separate unless your spouse is physically present in the United States. You may have the option to file jointly but your spouse would need to sign certain affidavits and applications and this may be impossible to do unless they were physically present. I will explain your options though and you can decide the best course of action.
Choice 1
• Treat your spouse as a resident alien for tax purposes. If you do this, you will need to include your spouse's worldwide income in your US tax return and it will be subject to US taxes.
To do this follow these steps.
1. 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.
2. List the name, address and Social Security number (or Individual Taxpayer Identification number) of each spouse. You will need to 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 if you are using Form W-7.
3. 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, but you do have to include your spouse’s worldwide income in joint income.
Choice 2
• Treat your spouse as a 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.
1. 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 your husband as a dependent but will need either a social security number or an ITIN for your husband to claim the dependency.
2. You do not need the spouse's social security number for this option since they do not have one. Leave that blank on the return but you will need to print and mail in the return with an explanation stating that they are out of the country and have no SSN or ITIN.
For each of these options, you will need to print and mail your return since there is no SSN or ITIN to report for your spouse.
@Mehmethan
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