Hi there -
I got married in 2009 to a French citizen (who completed two student internships here and has a SSN). I live and work in the US and he is in France, finishing his masters, while we wait for his visa and work permit to come through. As a full-time student he is being supported by his parents (in France) and has no income.

If I were not married, I would file the EZ forms because my finances are so basic. Can I use the Married - Filing Jointly category on the EZ forms of the taxes?

Are there any other forms or information I need to include?

On the IRS website, they mention an amendment -1040X - and a declaration... when I spoke to a representative of the IRS this weekend, they said no extra documentation is needed and that I can use Married-Filing Jointly as my status.

Can I really use Married-Filing Jointly? What's the real story with the extra documentation?

Thanks so much,
Shannon

A U.S. citizen or resident can file joint return as residents even when the spouse is foreign alien and has never been to the U.S. Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing Status for Married

Thanks for the excellent link - very informative. So, regardless of the fact that he is NOT currently living in the United States, we can file Married-Jointly. Great - What about the documentation? The IRS website says extra documentation, the IRS representative says no.

No additional documentation is required.
Both of you must report worldwide income on the tax return. If you or your spouse have any foreign income, and on that income you paid taxes in the foreign country, then you can claim foreign tax credit (Form 1116) or you can use Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555). Your U.S. Tax Return: U.S. Citizen or Resident with Foreign Income

This is so great and much easier than I imagined! Thanks so much for your help :]
S.

You can file jointly, but you need to reseach the implecations further. If you file jointly you may be required to file forms such as 90-22.1, 3520, 3520-A, 8938,. Most tax software will never prompt you for these forms, and the penalties for not filing them, if required, can be huge. For example 90-22.1 penalties are a minimum of 5% the balance or $10,000 per account. Even filing late can subject you to these penalties. The tax deadline for these forms varies, as well as the addresses you need to send them to. For example form 3520-A is due each year in March.

IRS Publication 17 lists some of the special rules for non-resident alien spouses. You will want to familarize yourself with those. Unfortunately, if have already files a joint return this year there is no way to change the filing status, should you learn of some reporting requirement you missed, or you failed to account for all your spouses income on your joint return. The best you can do is amend your joint return with the additional information required and ask for penality relief should you have missed something that caries a penalty with it.

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Originally Posted by MukatA

No additional documentation is required.
Both of you must report worldwide income on the tax return. If you or your spouse have any foreign income, and on that income you paid taxes in the foreign country, then you can claim foreign tax credit (Form 1116) or you can use Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555). Your U.S. Tax Return: U.S. Citizen or Resident with Foreign Income

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Well yes and no. The US citizen cannot file a form 2555 because she is not living abroad. The French citizen can only file a form 2555 if he signs a declaration declaring himself a US resident for tax purposes. However, once signing that declaration the French citizen will need to not only pay tax on all regular income, but even income that is normally tax scheltered like retirement plan earnings. There is a whole list of forms that may need to be filed as a result. A failure to do so can result in huge penalties because he agreed to be treated as a US resident for tax purposes. If he is planning to move to the US, he might as well do this, as he will need to file the same forms once residing in the US for future years. Otherwise, it might be better to skip all this and not declare himself a resident for US tax purposes.

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Originally Posted by MukatA

A U.S. Citizen or resident can file joint return as residents even when the spouse is foreign alien and has never been to the U.S. Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing Status for Married

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The IRS has changed the rules since 2008. Now there is a special rule that allows a US Citizen or resident to be treated as unmarried when married to a non-resident alien for the purposes of filing with a status of Head of Houshold. See IRS publication 17 for more details.

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Originally Posted by docbill

Well yes and no. The US citizen cannot file a form 2555 because she is not living abroad. The French citizen can only file a form 2555 if he signs a declaration declaring himself a US resident for tax purposes. However, once signing that declaration the French citizen will need to not only pay tax on all regular income, but even income that is normally tax scheltered like retirement plan earnings. There is a whole list of forms that may need to be filed as a result. A failure to do so can result in huge penalties because he agreed to be treated as a US resident for tax purposes. If he is planning to move to the US, he might as well go ahead and do this, as he will need to file the same forms once residing in the US for future years. Otherwise, it might be better to skip all this and not declare himself a resident for US tax purposes.

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Oh. I also forgot, he must also need to file a form 1040 schedule B, to answer the three questions in Part III. In general if any of the answers are yes, the schedule B must be filed. In that case a 1040EZ may not be used.