Foreign Spouse Tax Dependent

[Mike_Marivic 0]

hi guys,

does anyone here know among the married couples (foreign and USC) and now living in the US, can my husband claim me as his tax dependent, he cant remember but the last time he checked the instruction on dependents that I, being a foreign spouse, holding a Conditional Resident Status (pls see my timeline below for ref) and not an American Citizen can't be his dependent, how true is this. Can somebody shed some light or give any links on the instructions on the IRS site regarding this. We can't seem to find the part about foreign spouse dependents thus causing confusion here. Should we file joint tax declaration or i should file mine separately since I've been working since i got my EAD.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

[rjp44 1]

hi guys,

does anyone here know among the married couples (foreign and USC) and now living in the US, can my husband claim me as his tax dependent, he cant remember but the last time he checked the instruction on dependents that I, being a foreign spouse, holding a Conditional Resident Status (pls see my timeline below for ref) and not an American Citizen can't be his dependent, how true is this. Can somebody shed some light or give any links on the instructions on the IRS site regarding this. We can't seem to find the part about foreign spouse dependents thus causing confusion here. Should we file joint tax declaration or i should file mine separately since I've been working since i got my EAD.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks a lot.

I called the IRS for help on this question since we have been married but not yet living together while waiting for the immigration process. I was told no matter if apart or not it should be treated as married and either filing as married or married with separate returns. The test for being married is simply "Were you married as of 12-31-07". Our's will be a little more complicated since we aren't coming back to the U.S. until March 19th and she probably won't be able to get her SS number before the April 15th filing deadline, but I"ll leave that part out unless someone else needs help with the same situation. If you file jointly, of course your income here would be included on a joint return, and income earned in a foreign country must be included, but everything earned in a foreign country is deducted back off up $65,800 or equivelant.

I hope this helps and if it's not clear, I'll try to explain it better.

[Jimmy and Angela 0]

I called the IRS on this..

You can file married jointly or separately.

You will have to get an ITIN because you don't have a SSN.

I am still working on the details but I know it can be done

[rjp44 1]

I called the IRS on this..

You can file married jointly or separately.

You will have to get an ITIN because you don't have a SSN.

I am still working on the details but I know it can be done

Jimmy and Angela. What I was told on the TIN was that we could not apply for it as spplication for SSN is part of DS-230 and we couldn't have both applied for at one time. The advice given to me was to send in the paperwork filing for an automatic 6 month extension before the April 15th deadline. Then once we receive the SSN file the actual return. I was also told to figure the tax to see if I'll owe anything and to pay that before April 15 so that there will be no interest penalties.

[Alt name 1]

I called the IRS and concur with RIP. They transferred me to some kind of specialist, and basically told me that we could either file married jointly or separately, and if jointly report her income with mine.

If your spouse hasnt been in the country for all of 2007 there is a letter of choice that you have to send, check IRS publication 519 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf which is what the specialist referred me to.

Hope that helps.

[rjp44 1]

I called the IRS and concur with RIP. They transferred me to some kind of specialist, and basically told me that we could either file married jointly or separately, and if jointly report her income with mine.

If your spouse hasnt been in the country for all of 2007 there is a letter of choice that you have to send, check IRS publication 519 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf which is what the specialist referred me to.

Hope that helps.

D&N, that's a very useful link, especially for those of us married in 2007 but spouse will not live in the U.S. this calender year. It looks as if it's very important to send the letter to IRS declaring we wish for our spouse to be treated as a resident alien for the 2007 year. It's a long read, but well worth the time spent.