Tax Question

[C and J 1]

Firstly, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section but, I have absolutely no idea where to post this.

My husband is currently working on his 2007 tax return and we have encountered problems.

My husband and I married in February 2007 but, during all of 2007 we lived separately. I resided in the UK while I waited for the K3 visa to be issued and only arrived in the US on 20th Feb 2008. We did not co-mingle any finances at any point in 2007, as we continued to support ourselves in our on countries. I am in the US on a K3 visa, so have no permanent resident status until our AOS is filed and approved.

He can't file as single because he isn't, but I don't see why my UK income should require a US tax return to be filed. Does it? If It does, I know I have to apply for an ITIN number.. but is that really necessary?

Any help or guidance would be hugely appreciated.

Edited March 25, 2008 by C and J

[PeterFB 0]

Sorry I can't answer your quesionts. I'm not a tax accountant tho I've done my own taxes for years (with help from tax software). You said you're here on a K3 visa so that means you and your husband are "Alien and US citizen" and the IRS has info/regulations about that. The IRS has a website with a FAQ which may help http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html#13 They also have live people to answer your questons and recorded messages that are suppose to help. http://www.irs.gov/help/article/0,,id=96730,00.html If that still doesn't clear up your questions, then I'd visit a tax accountant.

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26

I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11

I-129F RFE(s) :

RFE Reply(s) :

I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26

Touched: 2007-11-02

NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16

Consulate recieved ??????

Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11

Packet 3 received 2007-12-24

Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28

Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14

Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23

Interview Date 2008-2-27

Passed Interview 2008-02-27

Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05

Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)

POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles

[mc2000ch 0]

Sorry I can't answer your quesionts. I'm not a tax accountant tho I've done my own taxes for years (with help from tax software). You said you're here on a K3 visa so that means you and your husband are "Alien and US citizen" and the IRS has info/regulations about that. The IRS has a website with a FAQ which may help http://www.irs.gov/faqs/index.html#13 They also have live people to answer your questons and recorded messages that are suppose to help. http://www.irs.gov/help/article/0,,id=96730,00.html If that still doesn't clear up your questions, then I'd visit a tax accountant.

Peter and Thi

I-129F Sent : 2007-05-26

I-129F NOA1 : 2007-06-11

I-129F RFE(s) :

RFE Reply(s) :

I-129F NOA2 : 2007-10-26

Touched: 2007-11-02

NVC Recieved: 2007-11-16

Consulate recieved ??????

Packet 3 sent 2007-12-11

Packet 3 received 2007-12-24

Packet 3 returned 2007-12-28

Packet 4 sent 2008-1-14

Email Reply with Interview Date 2008-1-23

Interview Date 2008-2-27

Passed Interview 2008-02-27

Visa Pick Up Date 2008-3-05

Received Visa 2008-2-29 (called to pick up earlier)

POE 2008-3-05 Los Angeles

yyyeeeaaahhhh...

[rin and john 71]

Firstly, I'm sorry if this is in the wrong section but, I have absolutely no idea where to post this.

My husband is currently working on his 2007 tax return and we have encountered problems.

My husband and I married in February 2007 but, during all of 2007 we lived separately. I resided in the UK while I waited for the K3 visa to be issued and only arrived in the US on 20th Feb 2008. We did not co-mingle any finances at any point in 2007, as we continued to support ourselves in our on countries. I am in the US on a K3 visa, so have no permanent resident status until our AOS is filed and approved.

He can't file as single because he isn't, but I don't see why my UK income should require a US tax return to be filed. Does it? If It does, I know I have to apply for an ITIN number.. but is that really necessary?

Any help or guidance would be hugely appreciated.

This was discussed earlier this month. Someone linked to a post from two years ago that did a good job of explaining it.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=109

Your husband will either have to file as "married filing separately" or "married filing jointly". It will largely depend on how much you earned overseas.

In my individual case, Rin and I married in October 2006 and she did not enter the USA until April 2007. Since she had very little income for 2006 in Thailand, it was far better for her to "declare" (via a letter attached to our return) that she wanted to be treated as a resident for 2006 tax purposes. By doing that we could file "married, filing jointly".

John

[payxibka 10,047]

As others have said in order to attain MF-Joint status for the US tax return when one party is a non-resident alien spouse, the non-resident alien spouse must declare that they wish to be treated as a resident alien and that all there worldwide income is treated as US based income. In many cases particularly when the alien is from a country such as Canada or one in Western Europe, there simply is no benefit.