SSN for a NRA Spouse

[ravee_h]

Thank you so much for that response @Taxmetodeath1. Infact after reading your post, I went through the ITIN instructions and it states the following on page-2

>>

Note. The deduction for personal exemptions was suspended
for tax years 2018 through 2025. For tax years beginning after
2017, spouses or dependents residing outside of the United
States aren’t eligible for an ITIN, unless they qualify for an
allowable tax benefit. The individual must be listed on an
attached U.S. federal tax return with the schedule or form that
applies to the allowable tax benefit. See the instructions for your
U.S. federal tax return for more information.

[amitabhbachan6]

Hello, I am filing ITIN along with return for my spouse for the first time. We don't have ITIN before. This year would be first time we doing. I don't understand what you mean by,

"For tax years 2018 through 2025, you can’t claim a personal exemption deduction for yourself, your spouse, or your dependents." 

In other words, there is no specific benefit for spouses form 2018-2025 so you shouldn't apply for or renew an ITIN.  Finally, looking to the 1040 Instructions:

What does that mean in simple words. I was filing as single and now it would be married jointly. What changes will i have?

[etphonehomefrance]

Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, you could claim a personal exemption both for yourself and an NRA spouse who had no US source income when married filing separately. But to do so, obtention of an ITIN was required for the NRA spouse. As these personal exemptions have been eliminated (at least for tax years 2018-2025), there's currently no reason for married filing separately filers to obtain an ITIN for their NRA spouse.

Your situation is different, though, if you're choosing the married filing jointly status to file a federal return, in which case your spouse will need either an SSN or an ITIN (and be required to report worldwide income).

[KarenJ2]

If you file married filing jointly, your standard deduction is $24,400 instead of $12,200 for married filing separately. However you both would have to report your worldwide income for calendar year 2019 no  matter where it is earned or received.

If you wish to apply for an ITIN for your NRA spouse with your tax return,you also need to attach an election to file married filing jointly.  You can find this information on page 8 of

Publication 519 under Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident.

As you will need to print and mail your return due to the statement you need to attach and the W-7 ITIN application, you can just ignore the error that there is a missing SSN as you are not e-filing.  If it will not let you complete your return without a SSN, you will need to enter a  'dummy" SSN .  You can use 305-44-0001.  However, as soon as your return is printed, you must "white-out" the "dummy" SSN before mailing your return.  You cannot e-file your return.

How do I print and mail my return in TurboTax Online?

[git2k19]

What would happen if i forgot to erase the [social security number removed] and have filed the tax return by mail and i didn't hear anything from the IRS. Its been a year already. 

[VictoriaD75]

You will need to contact the IRS to determine the status. The IRS has temporarily suspended the manual processing of paper returns and forms while they process stimulus payments. They are also not accepting phone calls at this time. Due to stimulus processing, the IRS has halted these services. You will have to be patient and wait for the IRS to reopen all operations and get caught up.

[ravee_h]

Does anyone know if Turbotax 2020 has a fix for the issue where returns marked with NRA  in spouse SSN box (where spouse is non-resident alien) has to be mailed in and cannot be efiled? One of the posters above said that taxact allows efiling for such returns.

[GloriaL]

TurboTax follows IRS guidelines regarding NRA.  When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien. To print your tax return in TurboTax please see: How do I print and mail my return in TurboTax Online?

@ravee_h

[etphonehomefrance]

Turbotax manifestly does not follow IRS guidelines for NRA spouses who neither need nor require an ITIN. The guidelines state explicitly to enter NRA in the SSN field for the NRA spouse in this case, which  your software is incapable of doing, a bug or deficiency you are unwilling to fix. The workaround you describe is a kludge; what's more, it requires the filer to file by mail, which the IRS expressly advises against because of the inordinate delays in handling such returns, given the global pandemic of COVID-19. 

Users should be aware that, whatever it shortcomings, TaxAct correctly handles the above case and will e-file married-filing-separately returns with NRA spouses without an ITIN. 

[C-G]

I wasn't going to comment on this because etphonehomefrance said all that needed to be said. But, I keep seeing it in my inbox... the statement: "TurboTax follows IRS guidelines regarding NRA."

For whoever's actually asking this question, don't be mislead by "GloriaL". You'll end up wasting your time like I did last year. If your Spouse classifies as a Non-Resident Alien and you try to use TurboTax, there's a validation in the interface, disallowing "NRA" in replace of SSN / ITIN.

In short, use Tax Act. "NRA" is permitted electronically. Even for TaxAct however, I was forced to print and mail my PA State return.

Discerning whether your spouse should be classified as NRA, or is required to apply for ITIN, is a confusing mess in itself. So it doesn't help to mislead confused users by saying that TurboTax follows IRS guidelines regarding NRA - you throw error message and TaxAct does not. I'm sure I still have screenshots if anyone wants to see.

[ravee_h]

Thanks @etphonehomefrance , @C-G . Wish TT had fixed this, I have used it for several years.

I hope that taxact downloadable version also supports efiling of such returns.

[etphonehomefrance]

Someone told me in a Reddit thread that Free File Fillable Forms, although it doesn't allow alphabetical values in the SSN field (last time I checked, anyway, which was last year), permitted him to successfully e-file while leaving the NRA spouse SSN field blank (return accepted by the IRS). So I'm going to give Fillable Forms a try this year, as my return is uncomplicated (identical to 2020 except for the numbers) and I don't feel like forking over any dough . Good luck.

[Gregoid]

Yes. I have written NRA into my spouses SSN and I had no problem. I also called the IRS and asked about this and was told to write NRA in the SSN box.

[etphonehomefrance]

There is no ambiguity here, nor any real need to telephone the IRS, as the instruction is clearly given in the IRS instructions for the 1040 form.  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

"Married Filing Separately

Check the 'Married filing separately' box at the top of Form 1040 or 1040-SR if you are married and file a separate return. Enter your spouse’s name in the entry space below the filing status checkboxes. Be sure to enter your spouse’s SSN or ITIN in the space for spouse’s SSN on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. If your spouse doesn’t have and isn’t required to have an SSN or ITIN, enter 'NRA.'"

[caeli]

Hi C-G.

Good day! Hope all is well. 

Your reply here was very helpful. As well as everyone else's. I would just like to clarify, when you used TaxAct to file your PA state return, since it has to be mailed as you said, did you write down "NRA" manually under your spouse's SSN? I used their system and so far, as you said, for the federal return, it auto populated "NRA" under the same field. But when I printed out the state return, it was left blank.

Hope you can help me on this (although I'm not sure if this is the right platform to ask this.. Just thought we were on the same boat so I went ahead and asked.)

Thank you very much!