Indonesian wife as of Dec 2018 - how file?

[WITAXLADY]

I do not normally deal with  or never - I should say - so US army man married Indonesia lady Dec 2018 - why didn't he wait until Jan???

So from what I read - she needs to get an ITIN and he claims her as a dependent and MFS - loses $2,100 + owes state? She is other?

Or he can claim her income? How do I get Indonesian changed to US dollars? and then he can file MFJ? 

He is calling Wed.

It does not pay to wait for a green card? as she has never been to the states?

Military discount? for being overseas?

Thank you for any input. I am thinking I should send him to military tax filing service? But he and his family have been coming here for 20 years.. 

[PatHack]

If the US army man has a child dependent, he may qualify as HoH.  Otherwise, he is MFS. He cannot claim wife as dependent (in 2018, dependents don't matter). Indo-wife is not required to obtain ITIN.  On his MFS return, her ID is listed as NRA (see ATX first tab "Main Info" there's a checkbox in a horrible spot this year, under FOR STATE RETURN PURPOSES, put a checkmark in box next to "Check if spouse is nonresident alien, does not have and is not required to have SSN or ITIN.")  

However, there is an election for her to elect to be treated as a US person and file MFJ (sorry, I do not have experience with this election which is only done when the spouse does not have income or FTC to offset the income on the US tax return). To convert to USD, use the IRS average fx rates https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates or another fx site that will produce an average FX for the calendar year.

Be careful the US army man may have signing authority over a non-US bank account or non-US investments (FBAR/8938)

[WITAXLADY]

thank you - she does have Indo income..and thank you for the FBAR note - but I think it is all transferred here - as I have a US bank account every year..

[Pacun]

I have done a few of these returns.  My clients' wives don't work or make about 3K in a year. So it is very advantageous for my clients to get married right before the year end. You file jointly and send W-7 with wife's passport to request ITIN... along with 1040. You include global income for both and attach a letter stating something like:

My wife and I got married on December 30, 201X in El Salvador. She is waiting for her visa in El Salvador and will join me later. In the meantime, we have agreed to file jointly reporting our world-wide income on form 1040. 

I normally ask both of them signed the return and the letter. Basically, I prepare the letter, the taxes and the signature page to wife and she signs the form and letter and send it back by mail to husband. Husband comes to the office and signs himself and we send the package to the IRS.

I love when they marry University students because their income is 0 and most of them save about 5k in taxes. 

In my practice... spouse is NEVER a dependent.