Filing taxes when married to a non U.S. citizen

Imagine you were swept off your feet while traveling abroad by a foreign love interest. Your relationship endured the distance, and later, you were married.

There are tax implications to consider after marrying a non US citizen, especially when it comes to your filing status choice.

Read on as we cover the most important details for couples who live here or abroad.

Note: The IRS defers to state or foreign law to determine the validity of a marriage to a nonresident alien spouse. In most cases, a marriage in a foreign country is valid for U.S. federal income tax purposes. And if the noncitizen spouse is a green card holder or meets the substantial presence test, then the spouse is a resident and is generally treated the same as a citizen for tax purposes. This is true no matter where they live. However, a green card holder would maintain resident status abroad, but a visa holder who met the substantial presence test would lose resident status when they left the U.S.

If you married a nonresident alien: Filing status choices

Your filing status on your income tax return should be carefully considered when marrying a non US citizen. Your options will depend on whether you and your spouse elect to treat the nonresident alien spouse as a US resident or nonresident for tax purposes (A nonresident is also referred to as a nonresident spouse, NRA spouse, or foreign spouse). Your filing status affects your tax rate (through your tax bracket) and some of the deductions you can claim in a tax year—that’s money you could put toward a home improvements or a vacation with your spouse!

Consider each one of the filing options carefully, as each will have different tax implications:

1.  Married Filing Separately with nonresident alien spouse

The default filing status for a U.S. citizen married to a nonresident alien spouse is Married Filing Separately (MFS). If you are married to a nonresident spouse and don’t have any dependents to claim, this may be the only filing status available to you.

Generally, using the MFS status may benefit couples when one of the spouses:

• Has income subject to Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), or 
• Makes considerably more income than their spouse, or
• Has large medical bills or tax penalties

While this filing status doesn’t pose any additional hurdles for filing your return, the downsides include:

• Losing out on claiming some tax credits and deductions
• Overall higher tax rates

Related: Learn more about Filing Taxes as Married Filing Jointly vs Separately.

2. Nonresident alien Married Filing Jointly (MFJ)

Can a nonresident alien file jointly with their U.S. citizen spouse? In certain cases, filing a joint tax return with a foreign spouse is allowed. To use the MFJ status, you can elect to treat your nonresident spouse as a U.S. resident for income tax purposes.

Filing MFJ allows both spouses to take advantage of lower tax rates and deductions that are otherwise not available to MFS filers. This status is most beneficial if your spouse doesn’t earn any income or has no accounts or investments that may result in negative U.S. tax consequences.

However, it will:

• Subject your nonresident spouse’s worldwide income to U.S. taxation in addition to your own.
• Subject you and your spouse to additional informational reporting requirements, like filing the FBAR and Form 8938.
• Additionally, require your spouse to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) if they’re not eligible for a Social Security number to file MFJ. Applying for an ITIN number requires gathering additional documentation that must be submitted to the IRS, which could delay the processing of your return.

Note: Once made, the choice to be treated as a U.S. resident for federal income tax and withholding purposes applies to all later years unless suspended or ended.

3.  Head of Household (HoH) with a foreign spouse

Can you claim a foreign spouse on your taxes using the Head of Household status? In some cases, filing taxes with a foreign spouse using the HoH status is a beneficial choice, as it may result in lower tax rates and tax deductions.

The IRS states specific rules for filing using this status:

• You can be considered unmarried  if your spouse was a nonresident at any time during the year, you don’t treat them as a U.S. resident for tax purposes and have paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the year. (Note: This has nothing to do with your actual relationship status, it’s just an IRS designation.)
• A qualifying person must have lived with you in your home for more than half of the year. You can’t claim your spouse who lives overseas as a dependent, but you can claim other dependents who are U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or U.S. residents, or residents of Canada or Mexico. This status also requires tax dependents to have a valid Social Security number or ITIN
• You can file under this status if your spouse is not a qualifying person.

Can you file as Single if married to a non-US citizen?

As a married couple, you aren’t eligible to file under the Single filing status if you’re filing taxes with a non resident alien spouse.

Hopefully, questions like “Can I claim my wife who lives overseas?” and other tricky tax questions about marrying a non-U.S. citizen are answered in this post. But, before you file your return, discuss the best filing status for your particular situation with a tax advisor. The experts at H&R Block Expat Tax Services can assist you with this decision. To set up a free consultation, please visit the Expat Tax Preparation Services page.

Get tax help if you’re marrying a non-US citizen

When marrying a foreign spouse, your filing choice matters on your U.S. federal tax return. If you need more guidance on filing taxes when married to a non-U.S. citizen, let H&R Block Expat Tax Services help. We can also help you claim foreign earned income and other nonresident alien tax questions.

There are other tax implications to consider when marrying someone who is not a United States citizen. For more tax tips on expat taxes, visit www.hrblock.com/expats.