married or head of household

[neallove]

Husband has no social security number or ITIN so IRS will not recognize him

Can wife file as head of household

[Chief]

Is the husband

not a citizen, a nonresident alien?

[gkaiseril]

This is fairly complex and there are many options and much more information will be needed to determine the best solution for the taxpayer and spouse.

The IRS has a section about the ITIN, http://www.irs.gov/individuals/artic...87,00.html#how .

The taxpayer can file without the husband on the return and for tax purposes, he is not considered a member of the household.

If at a later date the husband obtains a SSN or ITIN, then you can amend all open tax years claiming the husband as a spouse.

[Koss]

Nonresident Alien Spouse

HOH may be an option for the wife if there are children, and if all the regular criteria for HOH are satisfied (except for the part about not living with her husband).

However, this poorly understood section of the law only allows the wife to be "considered unmarried" for head of household purposes. It does not bring with it the "considered unmarried" status that is needed for EIC.

This is very subtle, and I worked on one case a few years ago where the tax software simply couldn't get it right. In order to get the program to allow HoH filing status, I had to either indicate that she was [u]really, literally, unmarried[/i], or I had to indicate that she was married but lived apart from her husband. Either way, the program would allow HoH, and also come to the conclusion that she was eligible for EIC. I think I found a way to override the EIC...

See page 24 of Publication 17 (2009), at the bottom, in the section titled Nonresident alien spouse.

BMK