Hello. I am a US Citizen living in the US full time. My husband is French, living in Europe full time. We were married in France in February 2006. My husband is applying for a green card but meanwhile he cannot enter the US for more than 3 months ~ due to immigration rules. Therefore we have not lived in the US together during the 2006 tax year and my husband has not earned any US income during the 2006 year. (or ever)

I already filed my taxes this year as Married Filing Separately in April. However, today, I ran my turbo tax just to see what my refund would have been if I had filed Married Filing Jointly ~ the amount practically doubled. However, when doing this ~ I did not include my husbands income, since not earned any US income during the 2006 year. Is that possible to do? Or if I were to re-file Married Filing Jointly would I need to include his "French" salary ? (and would this be worth it?)

Finally, should I just leave it as it was already filed ~ that is Married Filing Separately?

As for the ITIN ~ we did receive one since TurboTax said that it was required for Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately... which now, I find out, is not true.

I would greatly appreciate any light you can shed on this matter. No one seems to know the answer to this question.

Sincerely,

Colleen

AtlantaTaxExpert

Colleen:

Filing Married Filing Separately is okay, but, as you have discovered, filing jointly usually results in a lower tax. However, you must add your husband's France-based wages to the return if you file jointly.

Since you are using TurboTax, it should not be too hard to add your husband's France-based wages on Line #21 of Form 1040, then fill out Form 1116 (Foreign Tax Credit) to see if the credit given is enough to offset the addtional tax on HIS salary. Note that the Foreign Tax Credit for wages is NOT dollar-for-dollar.

If the calculations result ina refund of $50 or more, then amend your return using Form 1040X and attaching Forms 1040 and 1116.