My spouse doesn't have a SSN or ITIN. We both live overseas, my spouse has never lived inside the US, nor received income from the US. Does she need to apply for an ITIN?

[Sean13]

We both live together overseas, and will not be moving to the US. My spouse has no reason to apply for an ITIN or provide tax information to the IRS. She has never lived in the US, is not applying to live in the US, nor has ever received an income from the US. Should I just file seperately or is there a better way to do this?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

If you are a US citizen and your spouse does not have a Social Security number or an ITIN and you are not applying for an ITIN with the tax return then you can only file your tax return as Married Filing Separately.  Where asked to enter the spouse's Social Security number enter all 999-88-9999.  You can only print and mail your tax return, it cannot be e-filed.  When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the procedure to print and mail a tax return using the online editions - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1944348-how-do-i-print-and-mail-my-return-in-turbotax-online

[Ekpai]

can the same apply to brother's children (orphans) whose both parents are late. 

 They live in foreign country.