I’m trying to confirm what I believe to be true. I am married to a permanent resident here in Japan. We had been doing married filing separately for the past few years but I have begun to make more income and it has put me into a higher tax bracket. My spouse currently only earns income through a disability pension from Japan, it’s well under the amount that is excluded from FEIE. I’m just trying to confirm for tax purposes, that for the upcoming tax year, I will apply for her ITIN, file joint married, report her income from her disability pension but consider it all as FEIE as she has never lived in the United States or visited.
She’s concerned that somehow by reporting her on my US taxes that Japan will be notified that she is being treated as US taxable income and this will cause problems for her pension or permanent residency. I would like to know if there is any repercussions to filing jointly. Thank you.
by Longjumping-B