My husband is not an American and we do not live in the U.S, so he doesn't have SSN. How do I proceed?

[DianeW777]

You will need to mail your tax return and if for some reason you are unable to proceed, use a number such as 999-99-9999 until you print the return, then cover that or white out the number to enter 'NRA Spouse'

• If the non-resident alien spouse does not have a valid SSN or ITIN, the return must be paper-filed. 
• How should I file my return if my spouse is a nonresident alien?

[mark_harpstATmsnDOTcom]

IRS.gov instructions tell you to enter NRA in the SSN number field for your spouse (NRA=Non Resident Alien) Currently TurboTax software does not let you do that so you have to file manually. Hopefully they will read this and fix their programming code.

IRS Publication 17, page 22 chapter 2:  

Married Filing Separately
You can choose married filing separately as your filing status if you are married. This filing status may benefit you if you want to be responsible only for your own tax or if it results in less tax than filing a joint return.
If you and your spouse don’t agree to file a joint return, you must use this filing status unless you qualify for head of household status, discussed later. You may be able to choose head of household filing status if you are considered unmarried because you live apart from your spouse and meet certain tests (explained under Head of Household, later). This can apply to you even if you aren't divorced or legally separated. If you
qualify to file as head of household, instead of as married filing separately, your tax may be lower, you may be able to claim the earned income credit and certain other benefits, and your standard deduction will be higher. The head of household filing status allows you to choose the standard deduction even if your spouse chooses to itemize deductions. See Head of Household, later, for more information.

You will generally pay more combined tax on separate returns than you would on a joint return for the reasons listed under Special Rules, later. However, unless you are required to file separately, you should
figure your tax both ways (on a joint return and on separate returns). This way, you can make sure you are using the filing status that results in the lowest combined tax. When figuring the combined tax of a married couple, you may want to consider state taxes as well as federal taxes.

How to file. If you file a separate return, you generally report only your own income, credits, and deductions.
Select this filing status by checking the “Married filing separately” box on the Filing Status line at the top of Form 1040 or 1040-SR. Enter your spouse's full name and SSN or ITIN in the entry space at the bottom of the Filing Status section. If your spouse doesn't have and isn't required to have an SSN or ITIN, enter “NRA” in the space for your spouse's SSN. Use the Married filing separately column of the Tax Table or Section C of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax.

[saikooo]

I tried as recommended, but Turbo Tax doesn't let me proceed to the next page...!

[DoninGA]

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@saikooo wrote:

I tried as recommended, but Turbo Tax doesn't let me proceed to the next page...!

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If you are a US citizen or US resident 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

[DaveF1006]

If you are filing as a citizen and wish to file Married Filing Jointly, here is the procedure.

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.  If you do not have these, 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.

  4) This return will need to be mailed attached with all of the statements that are listed above. it cannot be efiled.

Let us know if this helps.

@saikooo