My husband is an immigrant and does not have a green card. Not allowed to work. He has no job and no income. Does he have to file a return? Can I file a joint return?

[shasta1466]

Seems like I would have to file separately, because he doesn't have to file at all. Is this correct? Or can I file a joint return even though he has no job and no income?

[DoninGA]

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 999-88-9999.  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

If you want to file your tax return as Married Filing Jointly you must apply for an ITIN with the tax return and you would need to be providing a statement with your tax return that you want your Nonresident Alien Spouse Treated as a Resident.  See IRS Publication 54 Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad pages 6 and 7 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf

Go to this IRS website for ITIN information - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/general-itin-information

[Opus 17]

Married filing jointly almost always results in a lower tax bill or larger refund.  You can file jointly even if your spouse has no income.  But, you would need to apply for an ITIN.

I also need to suggest an addition to my colleague's answer.  If your spouse lives in the US and passes the substantial presence test (lived in the US more than 183 days), then they are a "US resident" for income tax purposes, regardless of their immigration status or eligibility to work.  If your spouse is a US resident, then you need to put their tax number (ITIN) even on a separate return (as best I can tell from the instructions) so you might as well file jointly since you have to apply for an ITIN anyway.   You can't write "NRA" in place of their tax number if they are a US resident.

(If they lived in the US less than half the year, they are a non-resident alien and the other answer is correct in both parts.)

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/individual-taxpayer-identification-number

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxpayer-identification-numbers-tin