How can I file jointly if my spouse is a foreign national?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 19, 2025
2 replies
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My spouse is Japanese and I am on orders.

DoninGA

Employee

If you are a US citizen or US resident 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 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

If you decide to file your tax return as Married Filing Jointly you must apply for an ITIN with the tax return and you would need to be providing a statement with your tax return that you want your Nonresident Alien Spouse Treated as a Resident. See IRS Publication 54 Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad pages 9 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf

Go to this IRS website for ITIN information - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/general-itin-information

mrhodes08Author

Follow up... I plan on getting her an ITIN number. I am SOFA member living abroad on orders. I know the ITIN number can take a minute, but I should have it in time before filing. My spouse worked, I read I have to claim her income too, but she pays taxes to her home country. Would I still claim her income on my return, even though there is no W2 for her? How would I enter that data?

DoninGA

Employee

If you are going to file as Married Filing Jointly, her income is entered on Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income, not on a W-2.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for foreign earned income - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/foreign-income/need-report-foreign-income/L2SrRkmBG_US_en_US?uid=m63m70t9

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the foreign tax credit - https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/import-export-data-files/enter-foreign-tax-credit-form-1116-deduction/L5jnSn5Vm_US_en_US?uid=m63m8p4u

pk12_2

Employee

@mrhodes08 , having gone through your post and the responses of my colleagues @DoninGA and @TomD8 , (and generally agreeing with the responses) , what I get :

1. you and your spouse are both citizen of Japan

2. Under SOFA you are on assignment ( who pays for your services -- Japan or the US ) on US base -- a US territory for tax purposes ( which country/ base ?)

3. Your wife has her own earnings in Japan and is a resident of Japan ( family business).

In general ( and without refreshing my memory on US-Japan tax treaty which I need to do forthwith ), because (a) you are military and (b) your wife is living in Japan, she would not be eligible for ITIN ( her income is foreign sourced and her tax home is Japan ).

4. When did you enter the US ? US base on assignment ?

I am not familiar with the SOFA agreement ( with Japan military ), will have to hunt for that-- but my sense is that you are probably treated as an US personnel on duty. Generally though if Japan is paying your wages then you may have no US filing requirements. if US ia paying then you have to file US return.

Please any information you can provide on your deployment ( and or SOFA applicable to you) would be very helpful. Please help me on this.

I will circle back once I hear from you and/or when I have satisfied myself that I understand the situation and its nuances.

Look forward to hearing from you

mrhodes08Author

I am an American citizen and have been living in Japan since 2019. Being a sofa member means I am employed with the United States government, I am paid by the United States government. My wife is a Japanese citizen who has never lived in the United States and she works for her family company here in Japan so all her income and taxes is from Japan.

We got married this year and I was told the best way to do it is to file jointly as I can achieve a higher return that way. However she does not have an itin number and I know I need to submit a w7 for her to receive that. Where I work there was somebody that can do a certified copy of her passport to send in but I've been told one of two things. I can mail the w7 with the information with my current tax return in hopes of getting the itin or I just submit the w7 with a documents without filing my return at the same time. So my question is which one do I do?

pk12_2

Employee

@mrhodes08 , thank you for the additional information. I understand the situation to be :

1. You , a US person ( citizen ) have your tax home in Japan ( US military / SOFA )

2. Your spouse is a Japanese national, lives with you

3. Spouse does not have a TIN ( SSN / ITIN).

(a) As an employee of the US admin / subdivisions, your earnings are US sourced. And under SOFA arrangement , Japan is not taxing this income -- so no double taxation.

(b) You can file as MFS ( Married Filing Sep --- your standard deduction then is like a single person.

)c) A better option for most married person is to file MFJ ( Married Filing Joint ). To be able to use this your spouse must agree to be taxed by US as a resident. For that she needs a TIN ( SSN or ITIN ).

1. This will mean that you have to prepare the return using a dummy SSN, when all done print/sign date etc. Her income needs to be included as part of your joint world income.

2. Note that because her tax home is foreign ( her income is foreign sourced ), you could take advantage of Foreign Earned Income exclusion -- Japan will tax her income and under US-Japan tax treaty, her income is not taxed by the US.

3. You and your spouse need to sign a letter requesting her to be treated as a resident for tax purposes.

4. You have to prepare the W-7 ( down load from the IRS site -- it is a fillable .pdf . Include all the docs required by the instruction of W-7. The local IRS office or an agent can certify the copies of the documents. Then send everything to the IRS

The above is a summary . If you need more detailed help, you can either post here or PM me -- either way I will be happy to walk you through this whole thing.

Konnichiua