# US citizen married to non-citizen with no connection to the US, how are federal taxes filed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-citizen-married-to-non-citizen-with-no-connection-to-the-us-how-are-federal-taxes-filed/618527 "2012-04-12T02:42:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-citizen-married-to-non-citizen-with-no-connection-to-the-us-how-are-federal-taxes-filed/618527/1 "2012-04-12T02:42:12Z")
So you have a US citizen married to a non-US citizen who doesn’t live or work in the USA, so how do you file federal taxes? Assume also the non-citizen spouse wants no part in getting a taxpayer ID or having their income taxed. Supposedly you should not file as single since you aren’t, but to file married filing seperately it still asks for your spouses SS# and other stuff. Is this a strange catch 22 or something? EDIT: Ok like so: Husband is French and living in France with French income and French taxes and doesn’t want a TID or to be on his wife’s income tax form. Wife is American(USA) and living in France. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-citizen-married-to-non-citizen-with-no-connection-to-the-us-how-are-federal-taxes-filed/618527/2 "2012-04-12T02:59:55Z")
Why not ask the experts? [http://www.irs.gov/help/page/0,,id=133197,00.html](http://www.irs.gov/help/page/0,,id=133197,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-citizen-married-to-non-citizen-with-no-connection-to-the-us-how-are-federal-taxes-filed/618527/3 "2012-04-12T03:52:11Z")
> [@grude](#): > > EDIT: Ok like so: > > Husband is French and living in France with French income and French taxes and doesn’t want a TID or to be on his wife’s income tax form. > > Wife is American(USA) and living in France. [According to the IRS (near the bottom of the page):](http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96734,00.html) > [@](#): > > If your spouse is a nonresident alien and you file a joint or separate return, your spouse must have either a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). … If your spouse is not eligible to get an SSN, he or she can file Form W-7 with the IRS to apply for an ITIN. So the way to do it above board is for the wife to file “married filing separately”, and for the husband to get an ITIN. If the ITIN is the thing that the husband “doesn’t want”, then I’m not sure that there’s a way to file the wife’s return in a completely legal manner. I don’t think that having an ITIN requires the husband to file a U.S. tax return, though; see [here](http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=96477,00.html). So far as I can tell, in this case it would just be a bureaucratic ID number. It’s strange, though, that the IRS can require the husband to participate in the U.S. tax system in this way; I would think that they couldn’t have any standing to require him to do anything. Any legal types want to comment on the principles involved here? ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-citizen-married-to-non-citizen-with-no-connection-to-the-us-how-are-federal-taxes-filed/618527/4 "2012-04-12T03:58:28Z")
Oh, and I guess the other way to avoid this impasse is for the wife to renounce her US citizenship. But that’s probably far more hassle than the husband getting an ITIN.