If you and your spouse are all US citizens, or alternatively resident aliens, then there really is no difference in filing your tax return this year than there would be in any other. You would still have all of the normal options (Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately . . . Itemizing Deductions or taking the Standard Deduction); and if your children all have their Social Security Numbers, then you can still claim then as dependents on your tax return for 2016 (without any reductions / restrictions for the time that they were overseas).
So, basically it will be for tax purposes as though your spouse and children were never abroad. Even if your spouse earned income overseas, unless he or she were outside of the United States for at least 330 full days during a period of 12 consecutive months, then he or she would not be eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (see IRS Form 2555 instructions for more details). Therefore, his or her income, if any, is subject to US taxation, just as though he or she had been living and working in the US, rather than living abroad.
And so there would be no difference here either. You would just file your US federal tax return (plus state, if applicable) normally.
If you have further
questions, or just want to speak with a live tax
expert who can walk you through your TurboTax entries (including the ability to
screen-share with your computer), please feel free to contact us. We
would be happy to help you. Here is a link where you can create a support ticket and reach us:
https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact/Thank you for asking this question.
