Posted by: Bennedict April 20, 2023
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Logan,
Well, a lot of people whose wives are there in Nepal, they did not file for ITIN numbers for their non-resident wives, it is some hassle you have to go through right? You can file for ITIN numbers like you said you know somebody who applied for that number while wife being in Nepal itself. A lot of people never even think about applying for ITIN for their spouses in Nepal.
To IRS, if you are married, you cannot file as single person, that may be like you are lying to them to evade taxes in their eyes. But with wives abroad and not making any money in Nepal (for some), we may think why to say we are married in first place. IRS does not think in that way.
You have to file as married, but with your wives not in USA, MFS is the only option. But since not many people have ITIN numbers and SSN either, they can leave that space blank in some online applications like taxact.com and still fill in other details. Many other applications like turbotax or others won't even let you move at all if you do not have those numbers. So yes you can file taxes without wives' SSN and ITIN too.
The only issue here is you have to print out and file by mail. Some tax preparing agencies have their own enterprise applications that they can let you go without SSN or ITIN for wife abroad, I believe.
The tax credits may vary if you are filing single person or married with kids and your dependents not working, as we all know. Single person will be paying more and getting less returns than the married with kids. My only concern and I am not sure is that if you say wife and kids are in Nepal and then you include them in your taxes with their ITINs, then IRS will likely want to know about their income later on, even if they may not be working. Like for wife in Nepal, IRS may ask about her income in Nepal. For kids, yes, it is understandable they may not be working until they are over the age.
People, if you think this is a wrong understanding, please let me know as I am not aware of other things in process as well.