why if my spouse is already a lifelong resident born in the US am I being asked to file with her as a Non resident alien?

[navyhatch]

the second question in My Info is asking to file with my wife as a nonresident alien or dual status, why

[DoninGA]

Go back to My Info and edit your spouse's information.  On the screen labeled Tell us a bit more about (their Name) make sure that you have checked the box None of these apply.  And NOT the box (their Name) is a nonresident alien or dual-status alien spouse.  Continue with this section until completed.

[navyhatch]

Thank you for the response, The question about filing as a non-resident actually appeared before I was asked to verify my wife's status. The questions were OUT of ORDER. Once I "continued" then I was given the option to mark my wife's status as a resident.

[Daverodus]

Gotta leave TurboTax also. I feel that if I proceed it implies that I consider my wife to be an a non-resident alien due to the wording of the questions. She a citizen born in us to parents, grand parents, great grand parents, great-great grand parents all born in the US. She has never left the US.

I 100% did not check the box indicating that she was. I’ve done my taxes with TT for 15 years and never asked.

question: Would you like to treat “wife’s name” as a US resident for the entire year?

Is this the first time you are choosing “Wife’s name to be treated as a resident? 

I have a Spanish last name. I served in the Marine Core during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I was born on a US base. My dad was born in the US. He fought in Vietnam and he was also born on a US base to a father ( my grand father) that was in the military an born in the us.

[KrisD15]

There is an option for a "resident for tax filing purposes" (including U.S. Citizens) to make an ele..., along with their non-resident spouse, to both be treated as "residents for tax filing purposes" and file Married Filing Jointly on Form 1040. This has been on option afforded by the IRS for years. 

When one person is able to file Form 1040 as a resident

and another person who is not able to file 1040 because they are not a resident

are married, they can choose this option (to file Form 1040 together).

The question "Would you like to treat (spouses name) as a U.S. resident for the entire tax year?" only shows when you select "THIS PERSON is a non-resident alien or dual-status alien spouse".

If neither spouse is a nonresident you would not select the first option of "THIS PERSON is a non-resident alien or dual-status alien spouse", and therefore not be offered the second question. 

When elected, there is a statement that needs to be included with, and different instructions for, filing that return.

TurboTax added that second question to assist those taxpayers, by including the statement and directions for filing when making that type of election (election to file joint return). 

The first question "Your name is a nonresident alien or dual-status spouse" is not generated, it is asked for everyone using a TurboTax product. The question needs to be asked for each spouse since the program does not know which spouse is being entered first. 

@navyhatch 

@Daverodus 

[paengtham]

The issue is that this question is being asked BEFORE anyone is able to enter the information about their spouse. The questions are out of order, and it's wasting people's time as we chase down why the question is being asked.

[willfje]

This response it incorrect.  The question does appear even if you have never checked a box for "THIS PERSON is a non-resident alien or dual-status alien spouse".  I have never checked that box now or ever in the past, and the software asked me this question anyway.  It asks this question before you get to the part of entering information for your spouse.  One of the other posts is correct that the questions are inherently out of order.  If anyone from Turbo Tax happens to read this, you need to fix your software.  When it asks questions like this out of order it makes me wonder how many other mistakes are in this software that I never become aware of.  Every mistake you make causes your customers to doubt your competence and doubt the quality of your software.  This question being out of order should have been caught in your testing.  If it wasn't, then your testing is also inadequate, and that is another reason that I should doubt that your product is doing my taxes correctly.