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March 18, 2020
Question

Wife is a Non-Resident Alien, How to enter in on Tax return for Married Filing Separately?

  • March 18, 2020
  • 1 reply
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My wife is a Non-Resident Alien and she does not have a SSN or ITIN.  How do I enter this in?

 

I assume I have to print out and mail this into the IRS?

    1 reply

    Critter
    Employee
    March 18, 2020

    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 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 are filing 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 6 and 7 - 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