non resident alien

[akist]

I have a client who is a us citizen military who is stationed in japan and married a non resident alien late in 2019. they want to file MFJ. she has no US income. do i just need to file a W7 with the MFJ return?

[sjrcpa]

And an election that spouse agrees to be treated as a US resident for the entire year.

[itonewbie · Accepted solution]

It is not necessary that your client files a joint return with the NRA spouse and it may not always be beneficial to elect the once-in-a-lifetime joint election.  You should carefully review the finances as well as net worth of the NRA spouse, discuss the implications with both of them, and document their agreements before taking the plunge.