Treat nonresident alien spouse as a U.S. resident alien for federal income tax purposes?

[nvd_dj]

What's the format of the statement to choose to treat a nonresident alien spouse as a U.S. resident alien for federal income tax purposes?

[MarilynG1]

You have a few choices when filing with a Non-Resident Alien Spouse.

Click this link for more info on Filing With a Foreign Spouse.

Your statement can be something simple, like 'for tax purposes' if you are mailing your return with Form W-7 to apply for a Taxpayer identification Number. 

[hk999]

I have submitted my 2019 tax return (Married Filing Jointly) in Feb 2020 in a Tax Assistance Center along with ITIN application and  tried to submit the declaration to treat spouse as Resident Alien. But the officer in the TAC said the document is not required. My 2019 tax filing is still not processed. ITIN was approved. 

Now I am not really sure if both of us are considered as US Residents for 2019 tax year as we did not submit the declaration in the TAC center while submitting the Tax return and ITIN application. 

What is the best course of action to do now?

1.Wait for the 2019 return to be processed or 

2. Send the Declaration now  explaining the situation or 

3. File an Amended Return with the Selection 

[JeffreyR77]

When you submit an application for an ITIN with a tax return, the IRS processes the ITIN request.. 

When the ITIN is issued, they send you notification of the ITIN issuance and they apply the ITIN to the tax return that was submitted and process the tax return.   

There should be no further action needed on your part. 

There is no reason to submit a declaration, the filing of the tax return provides notice the spouse is electing to be treated as a resident for tax purposes. 

There is nothing on your tax return to amend, so there is need for an amended tax return,

[hk999]

Thanks for the reply