Wife from Russia, Has Green Card?

[zeros]

Client's wife arrived from Russia in December. She has a green card but thats all. She has applied for a SSAN but it hasn't arrived yet. She has no income. How should I file this return. I was thinking about filing as single and later amend. Bad idea?

[Koss]

Resident Alien

If she has a green card, that means she is a resident alien, and it means that she is eligible to get a social security number.

You could file the return as single and then later amend the return. The only good reason for doing that would be if the client is getting a large refund, and needs it now, as in two weeks from now with direct deposit. Single is not the correct filing status, but the impact is minimal, in that it works against the taxpayer, and there is no fraudulent intent, especially if you amend it when she gets an SSN.

If he's not getting a refund, or if the refund is small (whatever that means), the proper way to do the return is:

(a) extension, and file the return MFJ after she gets an SSN, or
(b) MFS, without an SSN for the spouse, which means you have to mail the return.

Mathematically, you may discover that the tax liability and the refund are the same whether you use single or MFS. That doesn't mean it's okay to use single, 'cause he's not single. But if you amend it, it's probably okay.

Unless, of course, there are children involved, and your client is low-income. I would not file the return using the single filing status if there is Earned Income Credit involved...

BMK