Citizen w/ non-resident alien spouse

[kathyc2]

This is what I consider outside of my field of knowledge, so pardon my ignorance. Generally I wouldn't even take on this return, but it's the daughter of a long term client and the amounts are small.

She is US citizen and he is from England.
They were married Dec 2013, and due to problems w/ his Visa, he was not in US at all in 2014.
He does not have an ITIN.
He is in grad school in England and did not have any income for 2014.
She lived in US w/ her parents 11 months in 2014. W-2 income is 4K.
She has no other income or investments.

My first thought was since it's going to be zero tax no matter what, just file as if she was single even though not technically correct.
However, because her income was so low and over age 25, she may be entitled to ~300 EIC.
Also, she will be using return for FASFA application for masters.

Any advice to point me in the right direction is appreciated.

[Roland Slugg]

Well, she can choose to file a joint return with her husband, but that may not be a wise choice. It would subject all her husband's income to U.S. taxation. You may want to read parts of IRS Pub 519, especially "Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident" on page 9 of that Pub.

If she were my client, I would recommend MFS status. Simple ... no tax.

I was also wondering: Can she be claimed as a dependent on her parents' return? You said she lived with her folks for 11 months of the year, so if she is under 24-yo and a student, she may qualify as their dependent.

[kathyc2]

On further research it looks like EIC will not work. Not available if MFS or MFJ since spouse did not live in US 1/2 year.

She does not qualify as a dependent for parents.

Spouse was FT student and had no income.

Since she's not required to file and FIT withholding was only $16, I'm thinking of just bypassing federal and just filing IN. Marital status is not reported on IN return.

If she does want to file federal for some reason, am I correct that he will need an ITIN for either MFJ or MFS?