Hi Layla,
Congrats on the wedding.
For tax purposes, your marital status on December 31st determines your filing status for the entire year. As a married person, your only two options would be to file as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS).
I will assume that you are a US citizen and your new husband is not. If that is the case, and you file jointly, you will have to claim his global income as well as yours on your tax return - even if it is from a different country. This could be a good or bad tax position depending on his income, since the tax brackets and standard deduction amounts for MFJ are double that of MFS. If you are filing as MFS, then you are not required to include your husbands income on your tax return.
In either case, filing MFJ or MFS, you must list your husbands name and social security number on the tax return. Since he likely does not yet have a social security number, you will be required to write in "NRA" (Non-Resident Alien) in place of his social security number, and print and mail your tax return instead of e-filing.
I hope this helps in your decision.
Ryan
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