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kantik.sarkar · Jan 5, 2011, 12:37 AM

Hi,
I am a citizen of India.
In 2010, I worked in US on H1B from 01-Jan-2010 until 01-Apr-2010.Effective 02-Apr-2010 I moved out of US.
On 31-JAN-2010 I got married but my spouse(citizen and resident of India)never travelled to US even though she had an approved dependent VISA.
Saying this , my spouse does not have SSN or ITIN.

Can I File my 2010 tax return as "Married but filing seperately" without my spouse`s SSN/ITIN?
If an ITIN is mandatory , then please let me know which firm can help me out with this , as am currently in India and don't have plans of going back to US any soon.Thanks

AtlantaTaxExpert · Jan 5, 2011, 04:07 PM

If you file as a dual-status alien, you would pay taxes to the U.S. ONLY on income earned in the U.S. while under the H-1B visa. You could NOT in any way claim your wife on this dual-status return because she was NEVER in the U.S. Further, you could NOT claim the standard deduction.

You CAN file as resident for all of 2010, and you be able to claim the standard deduction. However, you would also have to claim ALL world-wide income, but you could also claim the Foreign Tax Credit for taxes paid to India on any income earned after 1 April 2010.

On THAT return, you have a choice:

- You can file Married Filing Separately AND claim your wife's personal exemption. No ITIN is required; you merely MAIL the return (efiling is NOT possible), insert your wife's name on the Form 1040 or 1040A and insert "non-resident alien) where her SSN would go. You would pay taxes on ALL world-wide income JUST FOR YOU; you would NOT report your wife's income at all.

OR

- You can file jointly. That requires you BOTH claim ALL world-wide income (again, you can file Form 1116 to claim the Foreign Tax Credit and your wife can file Form 2555 to claim the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion). Filing jointly requires she request an ITIN by submitting a Form W-7 with the return.

If you need professional help doing this, email me at [email protected].

kantik.sarkar · Jan 5, 2011, 08:00 PM

Hi Atlanta Tax Expert, thanks for your advice.To further provide information on my current status , was working in US since 2008 and have paid my 2008, 2009 taxes.Can I still qualify for first option mentioned by you.Also my spouse is a homemaker.