Married to non-US citizen who lives abroad. How should I file my taxes? (She does not have SSN, earns money and pays taxes abroad, is not going to file taxes in US)

[sbarutcu0303]

Hi,

I am married to a non-US citizen who lives abroad. She works there, earns money there, and pays her taxes there. She does not have an SSN or ITIN because of that and she is not going to file taxes in US since she did not earn anything here. In this case, how should I file my taxes? Married filing separately? If so, the turbotax requires me to enter her SSN or ITIN and I don't have it. How should I continue?

Thank you very much!

[ErnieS0 · Accepted solution]

File separately if you do not want to include her income. Since your spouse does not have a Social Security number or ITIN you will have to file by mail.

Leave her SSN box blank or type 111-11-1111 or something else. Ignore any errors TurboTax will give you. 

Print out your return. In your spouse's Social Security box, write "NRA."

Use certified mail with return receipt when you mail your return so you will have a record of the IRS receiving your return.

[sbarutcu0303]

Thank you very much! This is a great explanation, I have couple of follow-up questions:

- She doesn't have to file taxes since she didn't earn money in US, right?

- Am I going to write "NRA" with ink?

Thank you again!

[LinaJ2020]

Correct.  If file separately, your spouse only needs to file if she has any US source income. 

If you want to file Married Filing Separately,

• 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.

@ sbarutcu0303