Filing taxes with 1 spouse working in US and one spouse working FT in another country

[ntur 4]

I hope I am not repeating something previously asked but I cannot find my circumstances in the other topic discussions.  Some of the acronyms being used are confusing to me.  My husband I married in June and we have filed the I-130.  I work full time in the U.S. and my spouse works full time in Sweden until he is able to move here permanently.  How do I file my taxes this year?  He has no income in the U.S.  Married filing jointly or married filing separately and then he does not need to file or married filing separately and he does need to file but says he has nothing to claim.

 

AND - if he does file ,will he need an id in place of the social security number.  How do we get this?  

 

(Another topic - is there a place to go on website to see all the different acronyms commonly used?)

[geowrian 22,337]

You can either file Married Filing Separately (MFS) or Married Filing Jointly (MFJ). Or if there is a dependent child living with you, Head of Household (HOH) may apply.

 

MFS

You file your own return like normal. You write in "NRA" for your spouse's SSN.

Your spouse does not need to file a US return.

 

MFJ

You need to obtain an ITIN for your spouse to file jointly since he has no SSN. This is via a W-7. Look up the process then ask specific questions if you still have them.

Both of your worldwide incomes need to be reported. This is typically listed as Foreign Income or Other Income on most tax prep software. His foreign income may be excluded - if eligible - up to ~$100k via the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE).

No supporting evidence of the foreign income is required at the time of filing, but retain it in case of an audit, just like you would do with W-2s.

This usually provides a considerably smaller tax liability (due to double the standard deduction) than MFS. Run it both ways to be sure.

Edited January 20, 2020 by geowrian