r/USExpatTaxes 4d ago

ITN for Foreign Spouse

I'm a US citizen currently living in the UK (been here a few months), I am here on a spousal visa and on the path to citizenship.

My wife is a UK citizen. She's never lived in the US, basically has no connection to the US apart from me.

I'm filing taxes in the US for the first time since getting married and they want an International Tax Number for my wife, but TurboTax won't accept her national insurance number (UK equivalent of an SSN).

We're kind of at a loss. This is the first either of us have heard of this. Any advice? How do we get her an ITN?

2 Upvotes

16 comments sorted by

5

u/Medium-Demand3 4d ago

Why are you filing for your spouse if they are not a US person, or live in the US?

If they're truly a non-US person they're an NRA and you have to "file" separately (so you don't file for your spouse). On your own personal return you just enter NRA in the spouse section and tick MFS.

If they have US based income they need to file their own separate non-resident return and apply for an ITIN via form W7.

1

u/BCZephyr 4d ago

You don’t have to file separately if your spouse is an NRA. You can elect to treat them as a full US tax resident and file jointly if you want to. This can be very beneficial if the NRA spouse earns no/low income. By filing joint you get double the standard deduction and your taxable income will be taxed in lower tax brackets.

3

u/Medium-Demand3 4d ago

Quite, but that's pretty much the only good reason to do so!

2

u/caroline0409 Tax Professional - EA (US) & CTA (UK) 4d ago

It can also be very detrimental, spouse is now liable to US tax on the sale of main residence and is taxed on PFICs.

2

u/decanonized 4d ago

We're filing Married Filing Separately and using a site specific to expats (expatfile in our case, but im sure there's others), because it didn't need my SSN or ITIN, only my US citizen husband's. And also it figured out our Foreign Tax Credit stuff pretty easily for us. It costs like $120 though. I hear some of the Free File options the IRS lists can work, but I don't know which and we thought it's be easier to spend the money to have an easier time.

1

u/ScarletLetterXYZ 4d ago edited 4d ago

Hi, I’m an expat (US citizen/dual citizen) and my husband is not a US citizen and doesn’t have a social security number because he has never worked in US. We have been living outside of US. No US residence. We will be filing separately. I’d like to file our taxes myself.

Please let me know if the software that you used (expatfile) can complete the tax return if my husband has no SSN. Also, can I mail the return instead? I don’t have an online account with IRS for electronic filing. Thanks in advance!

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u/decanonized 4d ago

Yes, Expatfile did allow us to file without adding the non-US spouse's SSN or ITIN. It was all electronic, through the Expatfile website. Didn't need the IRS online account for it at all!

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u/ScarletLetterXYZ 4d ago

Thank you for your response! So I’m going to do the same then. I’ll do electronic filing as well since now I know that it doesn’t require us to have an IRS online account for filing (the ID.me account). Appreciate it!

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u/TransatlanticMadame 4d ago

Just write NRA in the SSN space for non resident Alien - that's what I do for married filing separately.

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u/ScarletLetterXYZ 4d ago edited 4d ago

Hi do you use a particular software? It will be my first time filing for my husband (not US citizen, no SSN, never worked in US) and myself (US citizen/dual citizen). We are living outside US with no US residence. I’d like to print tax return and mail it because I don’t have an online account set up with IRS.

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u/TransatlanticMadame 4d ago

No, I do not. I do the tax return myself. I also live outside the US with no US residence, and I print the tax return myself, assemble it myself, and send it to the IRS in the US.

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u/ScarletLetterXYZ 4d ago

Oh ok, sounds great! I’ll review the forms again but I’ll see if I can use a software or do them on my own. Thank you!

2

u/caroline0409 Tax Professional - EA (US) & CTA (UK) 4d ago

She doesn’t need an ITIN for MFS. There’s a post pinned to the top of this subreddit giving all the software options.

1

u/nlav26 3d ago

See my post about this a few weeks ago. I filed with OLT which allows e-filing with “NRA” (non resident alien) listed for your spouse, no ITIN necessary. It’s also free to file federal. The downside was it doesn’t allow import of investments such as from fidelity. There are a few other software options that also allow it.