Hello. I am a US Citizen living in the US full time. My husband is German, living in Europe full time. We got married in the US in September 2006. My husband is applying for a green card but meanwhile cannot enter the US, 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. (In fact, he has never lived in the US and has never earned any US income.)

I am planning to file my taxes for the 2006 year as Married Filing Separately. Do I need to get an ITIN for my husband? He will not be filing any taxes in the US for the 2006 year, either jointly or separately. The only place I need to mention him on my tax return is to list his name and his SSN. Since he does not have an SSN, I am wondering if I need to get him an ITIN.

(Once he gets the green card he will move to the US and get an SSN, but this will not happen until 2007 or 2008. I am also concerned that if I get him an ITIN now, this will mess up his ability to get an SSN when he gets the green card, as I know that you can't have both an ITIN and an SSN.)

I would greatly appreciate any light you can shed on this matter.
L Pierce

AtlantaTaxExpert

Ms. Pierce:

I answered this question via email.

ngarstin

Hello to Atlanta Tax Expert!

The question about filing taxes when having a spouse out of the country due to immigration precedings you answered by email is pretty much my exact question.

I was told by H&R Block that I have to file as "single" but because my W4 status during all of 2006 was M-1 I'll end up paying over $500 this year in federal taxes alone.

Is there ANYTHING I can do? I know it's late it the game but I figure it's worth a shot. Any help would be amazing, thanks so much.

ngarstin

AtlantaTaxExpert

H&R Block is wrong, which is pretty typical when it comes to interntaional tax issues.

File the tax form by mail, filing Married Filing Separately. Put your husband's name on the form and state "non-resident alien; no SSN/ITIN required" where his SSN would normally be.

The tax rate is the same as SINGLE, so there will be no difference in the amount of taxes due. If you filed as SINGLE, you are technically incorrect, but since no additional would be due, I would not worry about it.

reinecol

[F]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 P.[/font]

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.