Claiming USC child on tax return without consular report of birth abroad

[Tsuyoshi 0]

Hi

I am a US citizen. My wife is a non-US citizen, and I have filed the I-130 for her and am currently waiting for a response. We have a daughter who is one year old. I am currently in the US. My wife and daughter are outside the US, and I have yet to meet my daughter - I came back to the US about 5 months before she was born, and the visa for my wife is taking much longer than I expected. I haven't had to money to fly back and see them.

So, my daughter is a US citizen, however as I understand it, both my wife and I must appear at the US consulate in her country of birth in order to get the consular report of birth abroad. This would be OK (she doesn't really need the proof of citizenship until my wife gets her visa, which is still some months away), but I want to claim them both as dependents on my tax return.

For my wife it is straightforward - she applies for an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) and then I put that on my tax return. But the form (IRS form W-7) says that US citizens may not apply for an ITIN, which would appear to exclude my daughter, who is a US citizen, except that we can't acquire proof (necessary for a Social Security Number) yet because I haven't been to the embassy to do so.

So what should I do here?

As an aside, if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't have come back here before we had my wife's visa in hand. The job market sucks here and I haven't been making all that much more than I made back in Cambodia.

[CPBDDO 5]

You can't file married filing jointly with a non-resident alien spouse. There is an exception where you both elect to be treated as residents but you have to both sign a form and attach it. She also has to declare her income on your tax return.

If your child is a US citizen (and I don't know if she is without the consular report) then you can only claim her with a SSN. ITIN are for alien dependents only. No SSN, no dependent on your tax return.

ITIN's take months so if you are talking about 2010, you'll have to file a 1040X to fix this down the road.

You don't want to screw your taxes up or it will make this whole process harder for you.

[Tsuyoshi 0]

You can't file married filing jointly with a non-resident alien spouse. There is an exception where you both elect to be treated as residents but you have to both sign a form and attach it. She also has to declare her income on your tax return.

I wouldn't have a problem declaring her income ($50 a month, no big deal...), but I wasn't intending to file jointly. Is it impossible to file singly and still claim her as a dependent? I mean are you saying that I can't have non-resident dependents? If that is so, then the problem is solved, I suppose.

[Tsuyoshi 0]

I wouldn't have a problem declaring her income ($50 a month, no big deal...), but I wasn't intending to file jointly. Is it impossible to file singly and still claim her as a dependent? I mean are you saying that I can't have non-resident dependents? If that is so, then the problem is solved, I suppose.

OK, I just looked this up and it seems I can't even claim my wife as a dependent. I can't claim my daughter as a dependent until I get the consular report. So I'm just going to amend the tax return when I do have the report.

[CPBDDO 5]

Yep, you reached the correct conclusions.