Citizen Married to Non-resident Alien

If the U.S. citizen is not paying over 1/2 the costs of maintaining the household, then her options are limited. She can file Married- Separate or she can file a joint return with her husband IF he agrees to be taxed like a resident alien. Note that the exclusion of earned income provisions of IRC Section 911 are available to resident aliens so the tax hit on his income MIGHT be limited

He should give her the money and she pay the bills, and he doesn't even have to abide the 13k limit as he is not a citizen, although she would have to merely report gifts received from a foreign person in excess of 100k or some amount like that, and she can do HoH.

The truth is "The husband supplies over half the household expenses." What's missing here are the income numbers and the total of the household expenses. If she's making $50,000 and he's making $500,000, there'll be hell to pay if and when she gets audited.

Bill Brown's suggestion of having the husband agree to be taxed as a resident alien is the easiest solution. But it too is subject to the numbers.

If the husband agrees to be taxed as a resident alien for

Dick

Yes.... but it can be revoked. If revoked, it can never be reinstated.

The truth is "The husband supplies over half the household expenses." What's missing here are the income numbers and the total of the household expenses. If she's making $50,000 and he's making $500,000, there'll be hell to pay if and when she gets audited.

Bill Brown's suggestion of having the husband agree to be taxed as a resident alien is the easiest solution. But it too is subject to the numbers.

If the husband agrees to be taxed as a resident alien for

Actually, Alan is right - once revoked, you can't elect to be treated as a resident. (Of course, if the nonresident gets a green card, they're back in.)

It's also important to note the HOH possibility. Many overlook that since in general you can't choose that if you're married. I once had to explain to an IRS agent (and refer him to the explicit instructions) that if you're married to a nonresident spouse, that limitation doesn't apply.

David

See my earlier reply. You are bound for later years unless you formally revoke.

The problem is that the spouse filing as HoH must have "paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home". The OP (Original Poster) stated that the U.S. Citizen spouse did not pay half.

Dick ===

a. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the principal home for the whole year for your mother or father for whom you can claim an exemption (your parent does not have to have lived with you), or

b. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up the home in which you lived and in which one of the following also lived for more than half the year:

If your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien, then you are treated as unmarried for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying relative and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as head of household.

You can use the head of household column in the Tax Table or the head of household Tax Rate Schedule. It may be advantageous to choose to treat your nonresident alien spouse as a U.S. resident and file a joint income tax return. Once you make the choice, however, you must report the worldwide income of both yourself and your spouse. === End Quote ==