I just want to clarify something regarding nonresident alien spouses. Please someone help me verify if this is correct, I'm putting together an informational pdf with unique filing situations.
If a U.S. Resident has a nonresident alien spouse, and they do NOT make the election to treat the nonresident alien spouse as a resident for tax purposes, then:
1. They cannot file jointly. They must file MFS or HOH (whichever applies)
2. If U.S. taxpayer's nonresident alien spouse does not have any income, then the U.S. taxpayer can claim an exemption for their nonresident alien spouse.
So, how is this actually done? In the case of an MFS return, does the U.S. taxpayer file an MFS return, and then claim a personal exemption for the nonresident alien spouse on Form 1040 line 6b (not a dependency exemption on line 6c)? I've never actually seen this done, so I want to make sure I'm understanding this concept correctly.