U.S. Tax When Married to a Non-U.S. Spouse

Updated April 2026 · Practitioner-written, not legal advice · Spot an error?

Who this page is for

You are a U.S. citizen or green card holder. Your spouse is a non-U.S. citizen and not a U.S. green-card holder, and does not otherwise meet the substantial presence test to be a U.S. tax resident. You live abroad (or the U.S.) and need to figure out how to file. Typical profiles:

• American man/woman living abroad for work, married to a citizen of that country.
• American returned to the U.S. with a foreign spouse who hasn't started the green-card process yet.
• Dual-career couple where the non-U.S. spouse has their own salary and local pension abroad.
• Americans with kids born abroad to mixed-citizenship parents.

The default: Married Filing Separately (MFS)

When you are married to a non-resident alien (NRA) spouse, the IRS's default filing status for you is Married Filing Separately. MFS means:

• You file alone on your own income, deductions, and credits.
• Your spouse's income is not on your return at all — the U.S. has no jurisdiction over their worldwide income.
• You get the MFS standard deduction (half of MFJ's).
• You use the MFS bracket schedule, which compresses brackets and hits higher rates faster than MFJ.
• You lose or have reduced access to several credits and deductions (IRA contributions above thresholds, some education credits, the ability to take capital losses in excess of $1,500/year, etc.).
• Your spouse typically does not need a U.S. TIN (SSN or ITIN) because they are not on your return.

MFS is clean but taxably inefficient for many couples. The §6013(g) election is the alternative.

The §6013(g) election: treat your NRA spouse as a U.S. resident for tax purposes

IRC §6013(g) lets you and your NRA spouse elect to treat the spouse as a U.S. tax resident for the entire year, enabling Married Filing Jointly. Mechanically:

1. Both spouses sign a joint statement electing §6013(g) treatment.
2. The statement is attached to the joint return for the year of election.
3. Your spouse's worldwide income is now reportable on the U.S. return, subject to U.S. tax, with access to FEIE, FTC, and other expat tools on their income as well.
4. Your spouse must obtain an ITIN if they do not have an SSN (Form W-7 filed with the return).
5. The election is year-specific but automatically continues into future years unless formally revoked.

Once revoked, §6013(g) cannot be re-elected without IRS consent — so don't play around with it. The decision should be based on a full picture, not a one-year convenience.

MFJ vs MFS: the real decision framework

The trade-off is straightforward in principle: MFJ gets you better U.S. brackets and deduction but may tax your spouse's foreign income at a higher rate than their home country; MFS keeps your spouse off the U.S. system but gives you a worse U.S. bracket structure. The right answer depends on specific numbers.

Heuristic: if your spouse earns modestly in a high-tax country (UK, Germany, France, Canada, Australia), MFJ usually wins. If your spouse earns substantially in a low-tax or no-tax country (UAE, Singapore, Hong Kong) where their local tax wouldn't offset U.S. tax via FTC, MFS usually wins. Run both scenarios in actual numbers before electing; the decision is worth 30 minutes of software time to model.

Getting your spouse an ITIN

If you elect MFJ, your spouse needs a U.S. Taxpayer Identification Number. If they are ineligible for an SSN (the usual case for a non-resident alien), they get an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Process:

1. Form W-7 (Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) filed together with your first joint return claiming the election.
2. Supporting identification — typically a certified copy of passport, or original passport mailed to the IRS. Processing through a Certifying Acceptance Agent (CAA) allows the original passport to stay with the spouse.
3. Processing takes 6-11 weeks, sometimes longer during peak season.
4. ITIN gets issued and assigned to the return for future years.

An ITIN is tax-purpose only. It does not confer immigration status, work authorization, or Social Security eligibility. It simply allows the spouse to be listed on U.S. tax returns.

FBAR on joint accounts

An important, often-missed point. If you (the U.S. citizen) have signature authority over or joint ownership of a foreign financial account, that account counts toward your FBAR threshold — even if the other name on the account is your non-U.S. spouse. You must report the account on your FBAR using the account's full maximum balance, not just "your share".

The non-U.S. spouse who is not a U.S. person has no FBAR obligation themselves. So a joint checking account you share in your country of residence might be reported on your FBAR but not on any filing for your spouse.

If §6013(g) is in effect and you file jointly, you and your spouse can file a joint FBAR (marking "this is a joint filing" and including both names), which simplifies reporting.

Kids with mixed-citizenship parents

Children born to a U.S. citizen parent abroad are usually U.S. citizens by descent (specific rules on the U.S. parent's physical presence apply). This has consequences:

• Your child is a U.S. person from the moment they are born (assuming the citizenship-by-descent requirements are met).
• Your child has U.S. filing obligations once they have earned or unearned income above the filing thresholds.
• If your child holds a foreign bank account (custodial account in their name in your country of residence) and the aggregate of such accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point, they owe FBAR. The parent or guardian files for them.
• The kiddie tax rules can apply to their investment income — forcing it to be taxed at the parents' rates rather than the child's own rates.
• Claim your child as a dependent on your U.S. return; they will need an SSN (if eligible) or an ITIN.

Holding local country investment accounts for your child — a local mutual fund for college, a custodial trust — is where PFIC rules can create nasty surprises. Check before you open anything in your child's name.

Spousal IRA contributions

If you file MFJ (§6013(g) elected) and you have earned income, you can contribute to a Spousal IRA on your non-U.S.-spouse's behalf. Limits apply ($7,000 for 2026 for those under 50, $8,000 for those 50+). The spousal IRA is in your spouse's name and can be a Traditional or Roth depending on income limits. This is one concrete MFJ benefit some couples use to justify the election by itself.

Estate and gift considerations

Cross-citizenship marriage also changes estate and gift tax:

• Gifts from a U.S. citizen to a non-U.S.-citizen spouse are limited to $190,000 per year (2025, indexed) before gift-tax reporting is required. No unlimited marital deduction for gifts to NRA spouse, unlike U.S.-citizen spouse gifts.
• The unlimited marital deduction at death is not available if your spouse is not a U.S. citizen — unless you use a QDOT (Qualified Domestic Trust).
• Life insurance structuring, beneficiary designations, and estate planning should factor in your spouse's citizenship. Not a code change; a documents-and-planning change.

This is estate-planning territory, outside tax-prep software. Work with a cross-border estate attorney if you have meaningful assets.

When software is enough vs when to escalate

Software handles the following well:

• Straightforward MFS returns (no spouse on the U.S. side)
• MFJ with §6013(g) if the NRA spouse has clean income (salary, modest savings account, no PFICs, no foreign pension plans requiring treaty analysis)
• FBAR for joint accounts
• ITIN application on the first return

Escalate to a CPA or EA if:

• Your spouse holds foreign mutual funds or ETFs (PFIC territory)
• Your spouse has a significant foreign pension or retirement account (treaty analysis)
• You are considering estate-planning implications of the marriage
• Your spouse is going through U.S. green card processing and filing status may change mid-year
• You are unsure about the §6013(g) election and want numbers run carefully

For software that handles the common cases, see Recommended Expat Tax Software. For complex situations, see Software vs CPA.

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