[maria85]

Hi a couple of days ago I got my w2 forms in the mail so I went online to start doing my tax return to send out to get some money will one of the questions that came up was how do I want to file I put down head of house hold but in my w2 forms it says married the reason I put that down head of house old was my husband is from Brazil and he has no social security I printed everything out but I still have not sent it out because I'm not sure if I did it right

[ebaines]

If you are legallay married then you may not file as HoH. The exception is if you can claim that you are "considered unmarried" - for example if you are llegally separated and your husband has not lived with you for at least the last 6 months.

You should file as either Married filing separately or Married filing jointly. Either way you need to apply for an "individual tax-payer identification number" (ITIN) for your husband - it's similar to a social security number but is for people who need an identifying number for tax purposes but don't qualify for a true SS number. You can attach the application for the ITIN (Form W-7) directly to your return. See the following for more info:
General ITIN Information

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Maria85:

You can file jointly with your husband, even if he is NOT here in the United States. You can submit Form W-7 to get him an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). Now, you WILL have to declare his Brazilian income (if he had any), but if he is here, you can claim the Foreign Tax Credit using Form 1116 to offset any double taxation.

If he is in Brazil and was there for at least 330 of the 365 days of 2011, then you can EXCLUDE up to $92,900 of his income using Form 2555. If his income exceeded $92,900, you can also file Form 1116.

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