Publication 519 |
2000 Tax Year |
Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident
If, at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is
a U.S. citizen or a resident alien and the other spouse is a
nonresident alien, you can choose to treat the nonresident spouse as a
U.S. resident. This includes situations in which one spouse is a
nonresident alien at the beginning of the tax year, but a resident
alien at the end of the year, and the other spouse is a nonresident
alien at the end of the year.
If you make this choice, you and your spouse are treated for income
tax purposes as residents for your entire tax year. Generally, neither
you nor your spouse can claim tax treaty benefits as a resident of a
foreign country for a tax year for which the choice is in effect and
you are both taxed on worldwide income. You must file a joint income
tax return for the year you make the choice, but you and your spouse
can file joint or separate returns in later years.
If you file a joint return under this provision, the special
instructions and restrictions for dual-status taxpayers in chapter 6
do not apply to you.
Example.
Bob and Sharon Williams are married and both are nonresident aliens
at the beginning of the year. In June, Bob became a resident alien and
remained a resident for the rest of the year. Bob and Sharon both
choose to be treated as resident aliens by attaching a statement to
their joint return. Bob and Sharon must file a joint return for the
year they make the choice, but they can file either joint or separate
returns for later years.
How To Make the Choice
Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to your joint return
for the first tax year for which the choice applies. It should contain
the following information.
- A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident alien and
the other spouse a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of
your tax year, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for
the entire tax year.
- The name, address, and identification number of each spouse.
(If one spouse died, include the name and address of the person making
the choice for the deceased spouse.)
Amended return.
You generally make this choice when you file your joint return.
However, you can also make the choice by filing a joint amended return
on Form 1040X. Attach Form 1040, Form 1040A, or Form 1040EZ and print
"Amended" across the top of the corrected return. If you make the
choice with an amended return, you and your spouse must also amend any
returns that you may have filed after the year for which you made the
choice.
You generally must file the amended joint return within 3 years
from the date you filed your original U.S. income tax return or 2
years from the date you paid your income tax for that year, whichever
is later.
Suspending the Choice
The choice to be treated as a resident alien does not apply to any
tax year (after the tax year you made the choice) if neither spouse is
a U.S. citizen or resident alien at any time during the tax year.
Example.
Dick Brown was a resident alien on December 31, 1997, and married
to Judy, a nonresident alien. They chose to treat Judy as a resident
alien and filed joint 1997 and 1998 income tax returns. On January 10,
1999, Dick became a nonresident alien. Judy had remained a nonresident
alien throughout the period. Dick and Judy could have filed joint or
separate returns for 1999. However, since neither Dick nor Judy is a
resident alien at any time during 2000, their choice is suspended for
that year. If either has U.S. source income or foreign source income
effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business in 2000, they must
file separate returns as nonresident aliens. If Dick becomes a
resident alien again in 2000, their choice is no longer suspended.
Ending the Choice
Once made, the choice to be treated as a resident applies to all
later years unless suspended (as explained above) or ended in one of
the following ways.
If the choice is ended in one of the following ways, neither spouse
can make this choice in any later tax year.
- Revocation. Either spouse can revoke the choice
for any tax year, provided he or she makes the revocation by the due
date for filing the tax return for that tax year. The spouse who
revokes must attach a signed statement declaring that the choice is
being revoked. The statement must include the name, address, and
identification number of each spouse. (If one spouse dies, include the
name and address of the person who is revoking the choice for the
deceased spouse.) The statement also must include a list of any
states, foreign countries, and possessions that have community
property laws in which either spouse is domiciled or where real
property is located from which either spouse receives income. File the
statement as follows:
- If the spouse revoking the choice must file a return, attach
the statement to the return for the first year the revocation applies,
- If the spouse revoking the choice does not have to file a
return, but does file a return (for example, to obtain a refund),
attach the statement to the return, or
- If the spouse revoking the choice does not have to file a
return and does not file a claim for refund, send the statement to the
Internal Revenue Service Center where you filed the last joint return.
- Death. The death of either spouse ends the
choice, beginning with the first tax year following the year the
spouse died. However, if the surviving spouse is a U.S. citizen or
resident and is entitled to the joint tax rates as a surviving spouse,
the choice will not end until the close of the last year for which
these joint rates may be used. If both spouses die in the same tax
year, the choice ends on the first day after the close of the tax year
in which the spouses died.
- Legal separation. A legal separation under a
decree of divorce or separate maintenance ends the choice as of the
beginning of the tax year in which the legal separation occurs.
- Inadequate records. The Internal Revenue Service
can end the choice for any tax year that either spouse has failed to
keep adequate books, records, and other information necessary to
determine the correct income tax liability, or to provide adequate
access to those records.
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