Looking for help filing taxes as NRA with NRA spouse who has no SSN or ITIN

I've helped several international clients in similar situations! For NRAs on J1 visas filing with a spouse who doesn't have an SSN or ITIN, you have a couple of options. First, you can file as "Married Filing Separately" which doesn't require your spouse to have an ITIN. This is the simplest approach for your first tax year in the US. You'd only report your W2 income and wouldn't include your spouse at all on your return. Alternatively, you can file as "Married Filing Jointly," which might give you better tax benefits, but this requires getting an ITIN for your spouse. Your spouse would need to complete Form W-7 (Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) and submit it along with your tax return and supporting documents that prove identity and foreign status.

When I was on an F1 visa last year, I found out about taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it was seriously a game-changer for my NRA tax situation. They specialize in nonresident tax returns including all the visa-specific stuff that regular tax software gets wrong. I was in a similar spot with my wife needing an ITIN and they guided me through the whole process. They have tax pros who understand all the treaty benefits and filing requirements for J1/J2 visa holders. The cool thing is they have document scanning that automatically interprets your W2 and visa documents to make sure everything's filed correctly - especially important for NRAs since mistakes can affect immigration status.

Just wanted to update everyone - I ended up using taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here and WOW it made the whole process so much easier! The ITIN application for my husband was handled seamlessly (they even caught that I was about to submit the wrong version of our marriage certificate). They walked me through the whole NRA filing process step by step, explained what treaty benefits applied to us, and took care of all the forms. Their specialists really do understand J visa situations - they even knew exactly which forms I needed for state taxes, which was something I hadn't even considered. Definitely recommend for anyone in a similar NRA spouse situation!

If you're having trouble getting through to the IRS about your ITIN application (which is pretty common these days), I highly recommend using Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I spent DAYS trying to reach someone at the IRS about my wife's ITIN status - constant busy signals or disconnections after waiting forever. I was skeptical but tried Claimyr and they got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 20 minutes when I'd been trying for weeks on my own. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c. They basically hold your place in the IRS phone queue and call you when they get a human. Saved me hours of frustration and I finally got answers about our ITIN application that had been pending for months.

I have to publicly eat my words (and my hat). After seeing the post about Claimyr, I tried it yesterday out of desperation. After THREE MONTHS of never getting through about my ITIN application, I got a call back in about 45 minutes and was connected to an actual human at the IRS. Turns out my ITIN application had been held up because they couldn't read part of my passport copy (seriously??). The agent told me exactly what I needed to resubmit, and I would have NEVER known this without getting through. Just got the corrected documents submitted today. If you're dealing with ITIN issues, being able to actually talk to someone makes all the difference.

Another option is to look into Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs that specialize in international students/scholars. Many universities with international programs have VITA volunteers specifically trained in NRA tax situations. They can prepare your return for free if your income is under $58,000.

Just a tip from my experience - if you file as "Married Filing Separately" without getting an ITIN for your spouse this year, but later decide you want to amend to "Married Filing Jointly" after getting their ITIN, you CAN do this! You have 3 years from the original filing deadline to file an amended return.

I was in almost the exact same situation two years ago - J1 visa with a J2 spouse who had no SSN or ITIN and zero income. Here's what I learned: The key decision is whether the potential tax savings from filing jointly justify the hassle of getting an ITIN for your spouse. Since you mentioned having just one W2, if your income is relatively modest, the difference between the MFS standard deduction ($13,850) and MFJ standard deduction ($27,700) could save you significant money. However, getting an ITIN can take 6-11 weeks during tax season, and you'd need to mail your original passport or certified copies along with Form W-7. If you're not comfortable mailing your passport, you can visit an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center, but appointments are hard to get. For your first year, I'd honestly recommend starting with MFS to get your return filed on time, then consider getting the ITIN for next year when you have more time to plan. You can always amend later if the tax savings are worth it, but at least you won't miss any deadlines while waiting for ITIN processing. Also, make sure you're claiming any applicable tax treaty benefits - many J1 visa holders from certain countries can exempt part of their income for the first few years.