Not sure if I need to file as Single or Married Filing Separately...

[NewbieS]

My wife lives in another country and we have not lived together at all in 2018.  She is not a US citizen, has not made any money, and is not filing her own taxes in the US.  I am not claiming her or my son as dependents (my son made too much money last year), so I don't qualify as Head of Household.  Is my only option to file Married Filing Separately?- if so, can I simply mail in the form with 'NRA' (non-resident alien) in the ITIN/SS# line?- or will the IRS bounce it back and require her to get an ITIN before I can file, even though I am not claiming her?  The only other option I can see is filing Single, but that would not technically describe my legal status, so I'm perplexed.  Thanks in advance!

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

If you are legally married then you file as Married Filing Separately in this case.

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