My wife is not living in US. She does not have SSN and won’t need to claim a tax return for 2024. But TurboTax still asks me to provide her SSN. What should I do?

[pk]

@lei-liu-steam 

(a)  are you a US person ( citizen/GreenCard/Resident for Tax purposes )?

(b) Is this your first filing after getting married ?

(c) Which country is your spouse now in ?  Is she a citizen/resident there? 

(d)  if you are not a citizen or GreenCard,  which visa are  you on ?

(e) Do you want to file as MFJ  ( Married Filing Joint ) or MFS ?

(f) Does your wife have foreign income ?

Please answer my questions and IO will circle back --yes ?

[lei-liu-steam]

Thank you so much for your kind reply.

Here is the brief information:

• I’m from China and considered to be resident alien for Tax purpose for 2024.
• No. This is my third filing after getting married.
• My wife is a citizen of China and living in China right now.
• I’m a J-1 visa holder and working in an academic institution.
• I want to file as MFS.
• My wife has her income in China.

I really appreciate your assistance and kindness.

[pk · Accepted solution]

@lei-liu-steam , unfortunately  ( and only because  your spouse does not have a tax id ) you cannot  file by e-file.  The only option here is to  use a dummy SSN   (  obviously fake like  123-45-6789  or   123-45-8000 ) for your wife while preparing the return ( just top pass  all the checks that the software must make ).   Once all is copacetic, then select to file by mail.  This will allow you to print  "filing copy " of  both Federal and State  returns.   On the printed  forms, replace your spouse's  SSN with " N  R  A  ".  

 now sign & date the returns and mail  these  to the appropriate addresses  .

The other way around this is to apply for a tax ID for her ( ITIN ), but that  is a bit more involved  and if there is no plan for her to  come join  you here in the USA, it may not be worth the trouble.  This is especially true if there is no plan for her to submit her Foreign ( China ) income to US  taxes ( even though she could use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to not have US tax her income ONLY for federal purposes -- the states may still tax it ).

Is there more I can do for you ?

Xie-Xie

pk

[lei-liu-steam]

I really appreciate your time and assistance a lot and thank you so much.

Everything is well-understood according to your clear explanations.

Thank you again and have a great day.