filing US taxes, newly married in UK, but not yet registered in the US...

to which my question is that should I file as married (filing separately) or file as single as I haven't registered my marriage in the US, yet?

Thanks!

You don't have to register your marriage in the US. You file as married, you aren't single.

Thanks! I've done that, but I am getting confused now!

My husband is a British citizen, so I'm not sure what to put as his SSN??

My husband is a British citizen, so I'm not sure what to put as his SSN??

If you're filing separately, I don't think it asks for spouse's SSN. Well, that's how I file and I've never seen it.

They did ask for it, but gave me two options for not providing a SSN. (I'm using H&R Block.)

They did ask for it, but gave me two options for not providing a SSN. (I'm using H&R Block.)

I have a feeling that if there is a box for SSN and he doesn't have one, you can just put 'NRA'  (for Non-Resident Alien) in it instead of a SSN - that's what I had to do when I filed US taxes after being an international student in the US - I didn't have a SSN and was no longer living in the US.

If you are filing as Married Filing Separately then you do not need to list a SSN.  You leave that blank (that's how I did it our first year of marriage, I listed his name but left the number spot blank)

If you are filing as Married Filing Jointly then you MUST have a SSN or another number (can't remember what they call it - ITIN???) 

I didn't want to go through getting him that number the first year since his SSN was pending, so I filed separately.

The form really isn't made for people living outside the US.   

Thanks for all the help! This was the only time I've ever been confused when filing taxes as I had a lot on. ^^;

I wonder, does anyone know why you can't file your Form 1098-T when filing single but separately? I called and asked, but the IRS representative didn't give me the answer I wanted..

Married filing separately status has a lot of disadvantages aside from the lower standard deduction and lower credits. Many deductions allowed to other filing statuses are disallowed for married filing separately to prevent playing around between lower income of one spouse and high income of other spouse. This is why tuition deduction and student loan deduction are not allowed for married couples filing separately. These deductions have income cap, so the "poor" spouse is not allowed to get what the married couple might be disallowed had they filed jointly.

You can find more about fling options of the US citizen married to the non-US resident at http://www.taxesforexpats.com/expat-tax-advice/foreign-spouse.html