I am Indian citizen on H1-B. Came to US in May 2024. My spouse lives in India and has never been to US. While filing the returns, what should i specify for my spouse SSN?

Forum|Forum|10 months ago
May 31, 2025
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TurboTax Deluxe Online

pk12_2

@Kamalalochana-Subbaiah , so you are resident for tax purposes for the tax year 2024. Generally and easiest , especially if your wife has income in India, to file as Married Filing Separate ( MFS ). This will keep her income out of US taxes. And because you have a short tax year, you have to use itemized deduction anyways, so there is no benefit by filing MFJ ( Married Filing Joint).

TurboTax will expect a TIN ( Tax ID -- SSN or ITIN ) for your spouse. So

You prepare the return using a dummy SSN ( like 520-34-2000 ), tell TurboTax that you want to file by mail. Once finished, print out the filing copy, replace the "dummy" SSN with "N R A ", sign, date and mail the return.

Is there more I can do for you ? If you need more help, you can , if need be, PM me.

Namaste ji

pk12_2

@Kamalalochana-Subbaiah agreeing with the comments of my colleagues @AmeliesUncle and @JotikaT2 , and just adding

(a) your residency start date is the first day of legal presence --- Residency starting and ending dates | Internal Revenue Service

(b) because you have short year ( i.e. NRA for the period before you entered USA ), you would need to file a form 1040-NR ( as mentioned by both of my colleagues ), even if it is just zeroes , because you had no US sourced income for the NRA period. This is for completeness because US generally wants the full calendar year covered / recognized. In the case where there was no US sourced income for the NRA period, you can download , fill-out ( it is a fillable .pdf) with pertinent details, print /sign/date and mail-in.

(c) you have to file by mail anyways because you are filing MFS ( Married Filing Separate ) with a spouse with nil TIN ( SSN / ITIN).

Does all this make sense ? Is there more one of us can do for you ?

Namaste ji

AmeliesUncle

It sounds like you are a Dual Status Alien for 2024. Unless something has changed, I don't think TurboTax is set up for Dual Status tax returns, in which case I recommend you go to a tax professional that is experienced with Nonresident Alien tax returns.