British Expats - tax return help

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Hi,

My USC wife is currently living with me in the UK and has been since last January, she now has to complete her tax return for last year however we're not sure how to file.. we're trying to file electronically but could anyone help with the following?

Does my wife need to use the UK address or her US address?
We're assuming she needs to now file as "Married filing separately", is this correct?
if the above is correct do we just need to write my details as her spouse and 'NRA' where it requires an SSN or ITIN?
is there anything that I need to complete even though I don't have a visa yet?

Thanks

Derek

Re: tax return help

You guys married in 2023?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerekB1972 (Post 13238005)

Does my wife need to use the UK address or her US address?

Wherever her current address is now, at the time of filing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerekB1972 (Post 13238005)

We're assuming she needs to now file as "Married filing separately", is this correct?

Not necessarily. You guys can also elect to use the "Nonresident Spouse Treated as Resident" election and treat you as a resident alien and file as Married Filing Jointly. This would mean that your worldwide income the entire year would need to be reported also, though you would be able to use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and/or Foreign Tax Credit to reduce the US tax on your income.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerekB1972 (Post 13238005)

if the above is correct do we just need to write my details as her spouse and 'NRA' where it requires an SSN or ITIN?

If she is filing separately, then she would just put "NRA" in the space for your SSN/ITIN. If you guys are filing jointly, then you would need to apply for an ITIN with the tax return if you do not already have an SSN or ITIN.

Re: tax return help

Quote:

Originally Posted by newacct (Post 13238019)

You guys married in 2023?

Wherever her current address is now, at the time of filing.

Not necessarily. You guys can also elect to use the "Nonresident Spouse Treated as Resident" election and treat you as a resident alien and file as Married Filing Jointly. This would mean that your worldwide income the entire year would need to be reported also, though you would be able to use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and/or Foreign Tax Credit to reduce the US tax on your income.

If she is filing separately, then she would just put "NRA" in the space for your SSN/ITIN. If you guys are filing jointly, then you would need to apply for an ITIN with the tax return if you do not already have an SSN or ITIN.

Thank you, yes we got married in 2023 so her previous tax return was filed as 'Single'

We'll file separately this year to keep things simpler, we'll file 'jointly' next year

Regards

Derek

Re: tax return help

Next question, can anyone recommend the website to submit the tax return, we initially tried FreeTaxUSA but unfortunately the software does not support Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately without an SSN or ITIN

Re: tax return help

Quote:

Originally Posted by DerekB1972 (Post 13238677)

For TurboTax, if you wanted to do Married Filing Separately, you would have it print out the paper return, write NRA in the space, and then mail it. You may be able to do something similar with FreeTaxUSA.

Re: tax return help

Thank you, after a bit of googling we found H&R Block which allowed us to enter the NRA on their site and submit taxes electronically