# US citizen married to non-US person, tax filing



## throwaway1234561 (8 mo ago)

Hi. I'm very confused as to the IRS filing requirements for a US citizen living abroad married to a non-US citizen. Assuming entirely separate finances, and no need for the increased deductions allowed for by a joint return, can the US citizen simply file as single? If "married filing separately" is required, how does the US citizen go about it if the spouse does not have an ITIN or any tax relationship with the US? I see some places tell simply to put "NRA" (non-resident alien) in the ITIN part for the spouse, but I can't find any clear answers.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

OK - the IRS has never been known for giving clear, concise advise in "peculiar" situations, such as overseas Americans. Technically no, you should NOT file as single. But you don't need an ITIN for your spouse if he or she isn't subject to US taxation unless you want for some reason to file jointly. (You do have the option to file jointly, but then you have to declare all of the NRA spouse's worldwide income - and they will need the ITIN, which is no longer free to obtain.)

There is no requirement to get an ITIN for an NRA spouse unless you want to claim them as an exemption or file jointly with them. HOWEVER, there are still any number of tax filing systems that will not accept a "married filing separately" return with "NRA" indicated for the spouse's name and/or SSN. Haven't filed now in a couple years, but even the IRS e-file system (free-file fillable forms) wasn't taking NRA or blanks or all 0's or all 9's for the spouse's SSN. The IRS is actually sorely under funded, under staffed (and under loved) - oh, and their computer systems are crap.

If all else fails (especially if you owe little or nothing), just print out your forms and mail them in according to the instructions you'll find in Publication 54. Basically they won't bother you if you owe nothing and have no W-2s or 1099s coming from the US to alert them to elements of your income. Or just skip it altogether if all your income comes from outside the US. They don't have the time or the manpower to come after you if you aren't going to yield them some significant tax payments.


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## MyExpatTaxes (10 mo ago)

throwaway1234561 said:


> Hi. I'm very confused as to the IRS filing requirements for a US citizen living abroad married to a non-US citizen. Assuming entirely separate finances, and no need for the increased deductions allowed for by a joint return, can the US citizen simply file as single? If "married filing separately" is required, how does the US citizen go about it if the spouse does not have an ITIN or any tax relationship with the US? I see some places tell simply to put "NRA" (non-resident alien) in the ITIN part for the spouse, but I can't find any clear answers.


You should elect to file as Married Filing Separately and You'll still get standard deductions.

We at MyExpatTaxes suggest you think long-term because it may be more helpful to exclude your spouse’s worldwide income from your US tax return. Hope that helps! 😊


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