The short answer to your question is no, having a Social Security Number for a nonresident alien spouse is not required on your Married Filing Separately tax return in order to file it; but the answer is also yes, as well, with respect to TurboTax, in that you do need to input a SSN for a nonresident alien spouse, in order to proceed in the software and to generate such a tax return for filing in the first instance.
The longer answer and more detailed answer to your question is discussed below.
If you are a United States citizen
(or a resident alien) and are married to a non-citizen, who cannot otherwise
qualify as a resident alien under either the Substantial Presence Test or the Green Card Test (as explained at the IRS link directly below), then
you have some options on how to file your US tax return, although current
United States tax laws do not make this process particularly easy.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/determining-alien-tax-status
If your spouse could qualify as
a resident alien, then the two of you together could file a normal Married
Filing Joint income tax return (or the two of you could alternatively file as
Marred Filing Separately). Basically, if
your spouse qualifies as a resident alien, then your spouse is essentially
treated as a regular US citizen for tax purposes.
It is also helpful to point
out that you cannot simply file a tax return as Single, and ignore your spouse,
regardless of residency status. (We mention that fact because we are
sometimes asked.) Additionally, it is useful to know that the IRS considers
those persons who are married as of midnight on December 31st of the year to
have been married the whole entire year, for income tax purposes.
Thus, here are the outlines of your (2) broad filing choices.
Option # 1: You can file your US tax return as Married Filing
Separately, and just report your own income there. TurboTax can walk you
through this process, and help you create the necessary Form 1040. If
your spouse does not already have an ITIN number, or a Social Security Number,
then this return would have to further be printed and paper filed. If
your spouse has a valid ITIN or SSN, then the tax return would be eligible for
e-filing.
If there is no ITIN or SSN,
then in any place where the nonresident spouse's taxpayer ID number is required
on a tax form, you would take a black or blue pen and manually write "nonresident
alien" or abbreviate as "NRA."
In the TurboTax software, you can input any "made up" SSN or
ITIN you want to, in order get through the program (we suggest 999-88-9999,
999-88-9998 or 999-88-9987, as those numbers won’t produce any TurboTax program
errors in a review check) as a temporary "placeholder.” You can then later "white out" that
number when the paper pages are printed, and write nonresident
alien or NRA in ink.
You can also claim a personal
exemption for your spouse, if your spouse had no gross taxable income for U.S.
tax purposes, and was not the dependent of another taxpayer. This mirrors
the similar rule for US citizens and resident aliens filing as Married Filing
Separately to claim the personal (dependency) exemption for their spouse, where
that spouse has no taxable income, is not filing a separate tax return, and is
not claimed as a dependent on any other taxpayer’s return. But, in order
to do this and claim the personal exemption, your spouse must also have a valid
Social Security Number or an ITIN.
Option # 2: You can elect to include your
nonresident spouse on your US income tax return (which may be more or less tax
favorable than Married Filing Separately); and file as Married Filing Jointly;
but you would need to file a paper Form 1040 tax return in order to do
so. The somewhat complicated process for completing this type of tax
return is explained in detail at the IRS.gov website here:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/u-s-citizens-and-resident-aliens-abroad...
Such a tax return (Option # 2) is probably best done by a professional tax
preparer.
If you choose Option # 1 and have any difficultly with that, then having the
tax return prepared by a professional is also an option here too.
TurboTax has a helpful
Frequently Asked Questions webpage about claiming international spouses and
children, and you may wish to look at that as well. Here is the link:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Taxes-101/Claiming-a-Non-Citizen-Spouse-and-Children-...
Because of the administrative simplicity of Option # 1 over Option # 2,
especially where the nonresident alien spouse has no existing Social
Security Number or ITIN, many taxpayers will select the Married Filing
Separately choice . . . even where it may not necessarily result in the
absolute lowest overall US income tax burden.
Finally, please note that the "solution" to filing a MFS (Option # 1) tax return is provided above, with respect to the mechanical nature of the tax return preparation process.
Thank you for asking this important question.
