Got married overseas in Dominican Republic but haven't registered in US - how should we file taxes for 2025?

The IRS recognizes marriages that are legally valid in the place where they were performed, even if they're from another country. If your marriage was legally performed in the Dominican Republic, you're considered married for US tax purposes - regardless of whether you've registered the marriage in the US. What your accountant told you last year was correct. Once you're legally married, your filing options are "married filing jointly" or "married filing separately" - filing as "single" would actually be incorrect. The confusion might be because some people mix up marriage registration (which is about having your foreign marriage recognized by your state for various state purposes) with how the IRS views your marital status for federal tax purposes. These are two different things.

Went through something similar when I married my wife in Mexico! I used https://taxr.ai to review our situation because I was nervous about potential penalties. Uploaded our foreign marriage certificate and tax documents from both countries, and their system analyzed everything and confirmed that the IRS recognizes internationally valid marriages regardless of US registration. They explained that as long as the marriage was legal in the country it was performed, it's valid for US tax purposes. What really helped was they provided specific IRS citations backing this up so I could show my tax preparer. Definitely saved us from making the mistake of filing single when we should have been filing married.

I was completely wrong about taxr.ai. After reading about others' experiences, I decided to try it for my own situation (I got married in Thailand and had similar concerns). Their analysis was actually impressively detailed. They explained exactly why my Thai marriage certificate was valid for US tax purposes and even highlighted the specific sections of the tax code that applied. What impressed me most was they flagged a potential issue with my withholding allowances that I would have completely missed. The documentation they provided made it super clear how to handle everything correctly. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with international marriage tax questions.

If you're still getting conflicting advice and want to speak directly with the IRS to confirm (which I'd recommend), use https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual IRS agent without the ridiculous wait times. I was on hold for HOURS trying to get clarity on my international marriage situation until I found these guys. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when an agent is about to answer. The agent I spoke with confirmed exactly what others are saying here - if the marriage was legal in the Dominican Republic, the IRS considers you married regardless of US registration. They also explained what documentation I should keep on hand just in case of an audit.

I'm eating my words about Claimyr. After spending THREE SEPARATE DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about my foreign marriage situation, I broke down and tried the service. Got connected to an IRS rep in about 90 minutes without having to sit by my phone the whole time. The IRS agent confirmed exactly what everyone here is saying - marriages valid where performed are valid for US tax purposes. She also explained I should keep our original marriage certificate (with a translation) in case of audit, even though we don't need to submit it with our return. This saved me so much stress and I finally have a definitive answer from the source.

One thing nobody's mentioned yet - you should consider whether married filing jointly or married filing separately would be better for your situation. For most couples, filing jointly gives better tax benefits, but there are some cases where filing separately might help (like if one spouse has income-based student loan payments or certain medical expenses).

Has anyone actually tried to get their foreign marriage recognized in the US? Is there even a process for that? I've been married for 5 years (ceremony in Vietnam) and never did anything official in the US, but we've always filed as married.

Just want to add some reassurance here - I've been a tax preparer for over 15 years and have handled dozens of cases like yours. The IRS absolutely recognizes foreign marriages that were legally performed in the country where they took place. Your Dominican Republic marriage is 100% valid for US tax purposes. Your accountant was correct last year, and you should continue filing as married (either jointly or separately - whichever works better for your situation). Filing as single when you're legally married would actually be incorrect and could cause problems if the IRS ever reviews your return. The key thing is that your marriage was legal where it was performed. You don't need any special US registration or documentation to file your taxes correctly. Keep your original Dominican marriage certificate with your tax records, and you're all set. Don't let your coworkers' confusion stress you out - they're mixing up state marriage recognition issues with federal tax requirements.