How to Make the 6013(g) Election for a Nonresident Alien Spouse

A 6013(g) election statement is a signed letter you attach to your first joint Form 1040 so a nonresident alien spouse is treated as a U.S. resident for the full tax year and every year after. The IRS does not publish a fill-in form for it. You draft the letter yourself, following the content requirements in Publication 519 and Treasury Regulation 1.6013-6, and both spouses sign.¹²

What the Statement Must Contain

Publication 519 sets out the required content. Your letter must include:

A declaration that, on the last day of the tax year, one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other was a U.S. citizen or resident alien, and that you both choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year.
The full name, current mailing address, and taxpayer identification number (SSN or ITIN) of each spouse.
Both signatures and the date.

If a spouse has died after the close of the tax year but before the return is filed, the executor or the person handling the estate signs in that spouse’s place, and the statement gives that person’s name and address.¹

Sample Wording

A workable version reads: “I, [U.S. spouse name], am a U.S. citizen/resident alien married to [nonresident spouse name], who was a nonresident alien at the end of tax year [year]. We elect under IRC §6013(g) to be treated as residents of the United States for the entire tax year. We were married at the end of the tax year, which is the first tax year for which this election is to apply.” Follow with each spouse’s name, mailing address, taxpayer identification number, signature, and date.

How to Attach and File It

Attach the signed statement to a joint Form 1040 or 1040-SR for the first year the election covers. On the return, check the “Married filing jointly” box and enter the nonresident spouse’s name in the space provided.¹ If you paper-file, place the statement directly behind the Form 1040, ahead of any schedules.

For electronic filing, most tax software accepts a PDF attachment. Confirm your software supports a free-form statement before you try to e-file. If it doesn’t, paper-file the first year and switch to e-filing later.

Mailing a paper return from outside the United States, or filing with Form 2555, the IRS directs returns to one of two addresses depending on payment:

No payment enclosed: Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0215, USA.
Payment enclosed: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303, USA.

These are the addresses for calendar year 2025 returns. Confirm the current filing year’s address on the IRS website before mailing.³

You don’t reattach the statement in later years. Simply check “Married filing jointly” and enter your spouse’s name as before. You can also file separately in a later year if that helps — the election locks in resident treatment for the nonresident spouse, not joint filing.¹

Making the Election on an Amended Return

You can attach the statement to a joint amended return on Form 1040-X instead of filing it with the original return. Write “Amended” across the top of the corrected Form 1040. If you take this route, you must also amend every return you filed for years after the election year.¹

The deadline follows the standard refund-claim window: three years from the date you filed the original return, or two years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. The Treasury regulation frames it as the election being made before the Section 6511(a) refund-claim period expires, with the same practical effect.²

If Your Spouse Needs an ITIN

The statement requires a taxpayer identification number for each spouse. If the nonresident alien spouse has no Social Security number and isn’t eligible for one, submit Form W-7 for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number together with the joint return and the election statement.⁴

Form W-7 requires proof of identity and foreign status. A valid passport is the strongest single document; a civil birth certificate or national identification card can also qualify. Send original documents or certified copies from the issuing agency. Regular photocopies are not accepted. If mailing originals is a concern, an IRS-authorized Certified Acceptance Agent can verify documents in person.⁵

Who Qualifies

Two conditions must both be true on the last day of the tax year: you and your spouse are legally married, and one of you is a U.S. citizen or resident alien while the other is a nonresident alien.⁶ The nonresident spouse doesn’t have to live in the United States or hold a green card. The statute looks at status as of December 31, not the beginning of the year.

Both spouses must agree and sign. That signature commits you both to being taxed on your combined worldwide income, and neither spouse can then claim under any tax treaty not to be a U.S. resident for the years the election is active.²

What You Are Agreeing To

Once the election takes effect, both spouses report worldwide income on the Form 1040. For the nonresident spouse, that means foreign wages, business income, rental income, investment gains, and any other earnings from any country. In return, you gain access to the full standard deduction and the joint-filing tax brackets, which often produce a lower combined tax bill than filing separately as a nonresident alien.²

To avoid double taxation, you can claim a foreign tax credit on Form 1116 for income taxes paid to another country. The credit generally covers foreign income taxes, war profits taxes, and excess profits taxes. You can’t claim the credit on income you exclude using the foreign earned income exclusion, so run the numbers both ways before choosing.⁷

Any treaty benefit the nonresident spouse relied on to reduce U.S. tax on specific income, such as interest or dividends, is unavailable for every year the election is active.²

One boundary worth knowing: the 6013(g) election does not create an FBAR filing obligation for the nonresident spouse. The Internal Revenue Manual states that a 6013(g) election is not considered when determining residency for FBAR purposes, so the nonresident spouse’s foreign accounts do not become FinCEN Form 114 reportable solely because of this election.⁸

How Long the Election Lasts and How It Ends

The election covers the first tax year and every subsequent year automatically. You don’t refile the statement.⁶ It is suspended for any year in which neither spouse is a U.S. citizen or resident at any point during that year, and it reactivates on its own if one spouse becomes a U.S. resident again.²

The election terminates permanently on the first of these events:

Either spouse revokes it. Revocation is unilateral and takes effect for the first tax year whose filing deadline has not passed.
A final divorce decree or decree of separate maintenance. Termination is effective at the beginning of the tax year of separation.
Death of either spouse, effective at the start of the first tax year after the death. If the survivor is a U.S. citizen or resident who qualifies for surviving-spouse filing status under Section 2, the election continues through the last year the survivor is entitled to that status.
IRS termination for failure to keep adequate records, grant access to them, or provide information the IRS reasonably needs to determine the couple’s tax liability.

All four grounds are in the statute.⁶

Once terminated for any reason, the same two individuals can never make a 6013(g) election again.⁶ The Treasury regulation goes further and bars either former spouse from making the election with a different future spouse.² Think carefully before revoking.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 519 – U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
2
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.6013-6 – Election to Treat Nonresident Alien Individual as Resident of the United States
3
Internal Revenue Service. Where to File Form 1040 Addresses for Taxpayers and Tax Professionals
4
Internal Revenue Service. About Form W-7 – Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number
5
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-7
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6013 – Joint Returns of Income Tax by Husband and Wife
7
Internal Revenue Service. Foreign Tax Credit
8
Internal Revenue Service. 4.26.16 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)