Why is Turbotax asking if I want to treat my US citizen spouse as a nonresident alien or dual-status alien? We've filed jointly for 39 years using Turbotax.

[MarilynG1]

Yes, I can understand why this question may be troubling to you.  However, the question in the interview section of the program is new and has been added to address a new option that the IRS has included on Form 1040 under filing status.  

This question is intended for residents or citizens who may be married to those who either are a nonresident spouse or a dual resident spouse.

@lasarod 

[Markest2]

The issue seems to be that TT skips that interview page or doesn't display it initially, so no box is checked. If the "None of these..." box is not checked and the spouse has a different surname, TT brings up the nonresident/dual resident question. Hopefully this will be addressed and won't still be an issue on 2025 taxes. They could make it mandatory that at least one box on that page is checked, and return to the page if none are selected.

At least I hope the issue is simply having a different surname, and not that the surname sounds "foreign", but I'm willing to give Intuit the benefit of the doubt.

[roastm]

"This question is intended for residents or citizens who may be married to those who either are a nonresident spouse or a dual resident spouse. "

There are two issues with this. 

First. It is a user interface problem. All it needs to do is ask the complete question about resident status, including being a citizen at the same time. 

Current (something like this)

_ Spouse is a nonresident

_ Spouse is a dual resident

_ Spouse is a permanent resident

Fix by adding:

_ Spouse is a citizen. 

That's it. Simple. The prior page has this selection, but it allows you to go to the next screen without answering the question. The other way to fix it is to ask the question on the prior page, and not allow to continue without answering. 

[lasarod]

I figured out that you have to go back to a screen that was skipped and select “none of these apply.”

[JVitt]

Same thing happened to me, we double checked our information was entered correctly.  I find this very disturbing and disgusting.  Honestly it makes me fearful of leaving the country for travel.

[mgarcia5]

I was also surprised by this question, and agree it is bad timing with the political climate.  I think the reason it's happening is because each person needs to respond to the "Let's Check Some Other Situations" question due to the new question about "I want to change the language".  If you're filling this out for person #1, then the "Other Situations" form hasn't been filled in by person #2 (spouse) yet, which means there is not yet a response for the question on that same list about being a non resident alien or dual status spouse.  Anyway, seems like a programming issue with the order/branching of the questions, but again, unfortunate timing given the loaded nature of asking about citizenship status.  

[RChiolero]

That window came up for me as well, and I guarantee you that I did NOT check that box initially.

[yourplace2tax]

This very incident is occuring with myself as well. It was very alarming, and unacceptable. Turbo Tax should be carrying the prior years information over to the current year.  Having always been citizens, this should not change the answers on file, unless spousal information changes. It has not. American born citizens would always be citizens.

[user7845]

Same thing happened to me. No boxes were inadvertently checked off indicating that my spouse was a non-citizen.  For some reason, TurboTax was assuming that she was and based on other people's comments, that assumption might be tied to the fact that we have a Spanish last name.  That is horribly offensive and unacceptable.  I have filed my taxes for 15 years with TurboTax, TurboTax knows my wife is a citizen from many years of previous returns.  Clearly TurboTax did not complete adequate user experience testing on how they were going to ask customers about this question.  I understand that there is a new box on the 1040 that poses this question, the massive failure is how TurboTax went about integrating the answer to that question in the tax filing process and has assumed for some users that the box applies to them.

[Citizen harassed by Tax app]

TurboTax has not responded to my similar complaint. I am the primary filer with an Anglo last name and my spouse has a Spanish last name. I was not given the option to select Citizen for him, as it was presumed he is a resident and this was extremely upsetting. This is discrimination.

[Citizen harassed by Tax app]

@AmyC , there are more citizens that are married to citizens. The software is presumptuous that a spouse with a Spanish last name is not a citizen and there is no option to select that it --- this is harassment. I was referred to a different tax preparation site by a family member and that business handled this question well - it was in line with the other questions and (correctly) assumed my spouse is a citizen. I am data analytics engineer at a Fortune 100 company who knows software development --- I am offended by and disappointed in TurboTax. I assume as "Expert" you are associated with them and perhaps feel the need to defend them, but I would stick to the facts here: TurboTax is prompting citizen's to make a false statement (as resident or non-resident alien, which no option for citizen available) and this is causing emotional duress for customers.

[BornintheUSA]

@turbotaxexpert This issue troubled me enough that we decided to do our taxes at H&R Block this year. This issue did not come up using that software. Seeing as TT has opted not to fix this issue, I am considering filing a complaint with our local attorney general's office.