Hi,

I am on an H1B visa and am considered a tax resident for US for 2011. My husband was in India for all of 2011 working for a subsidiary of a US company. During 2011, he had no non-immigrant visa for the US.
Before he moved in 2011, he was also on H1b visa. We always filed Married Joint returns.
However, can I still file married joint for 2011 even though he had NO US INCOME?
Or should I be filing Married Separate?
Thanks!

A U.S. citizen or resident can file joint return even when one spouse had no income.

Even if the spouse has no US visa? And is a citizen of India?

The location of your spouse is irrelevent; he could be on Mars for all the IRS cares.

Further, you must count his income in India (which can then be excluded using Form 2555), AND you need to get him an ITIN by submitting Form W-7 with the return. BOTH the return AND the W-7 MUST be signed by him.

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