Income Tax filing newly married

[Bassi and Zainab 1]

Just married in November... My wife has not worked in the US this year. How will this effect income tax filing for 2008? Do I file jointly with her at 0 income? She has a SSN already.

Thanks

Did your wife work overseas this year? Foreign income has to be reported if you include her on your US income tax. Rin had no 2006 income tax (we married Oct 2006), so I filed "married filing jointly". If your wife had foreign income it will be have to be reported when you file (if filing "married filing jointly"), however a certain amount of foreign income may be excluded from US tax.

Check www.irs.gov and do a search for foreign income.

Is this true? I didn't report any "foregin income" (as if that's the U.S. government's business) because the tax place I went to said I did not have to. And it was a place that helped immigrants too. Go figure.

I don't see how any income one makes in their home country before coming to the U.S. is any of the American government's business.

Yes, it's true. See here:

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch02.html#d0e1744

A resident alien's income is generally subject to tax in the same manner as a U.S. citizen. If you are a resident alien, you must report all interest, dividends, wages, or other compensation for services, income from rental property or royalties, and other types of income on your U.S. tax return. You must report these amounts whether from sources within or outside the United States.

An alien must be considered a resident alien in order to file a joint return. The alternative is to be considered a nonresident alien. Nonresident aliens generally aren't subject to tax from non-US sources, but they're also not eligible to file a joint return.

That's for income earned after becoming a resident, not prior to.

[Mozambiquepaul 2]

Ok Maybe I am a little slow, but can someone clarify for me...

I married my wife in june of this year in Mozambique. She has never been to the US before and as of right now we have yet to begin the visa process. should I file jointly? She makes 100usd a month so it isnt a money issue but more of a will this help me when we do start our visa process? Also if by filing jointly I will have to pay less taxes then I am all for it.

[payxibka 10,047]

Ok Maybe I am a little slow, but can someone clarify for me...

I married my wife in june of this year in Mozambique. She has never been to the US before and as of right now we have yet to begin the visa process. should I file jointly? She makes 100usd a month so it isnt a money issue but more of a will this help me when we do start our visa process? Also if by filing jointly I will have to pay less taxes then I am all for it.

You could possibly pay less tax if you are able to file MFJ vs. MFS, as the married filing joint tax rates are lower than married filing separate. Best thing would be to prepare both ways and see which one provides the best result

[HighwayStar 0]

So with the UK's tax year running from April to April, how am I meant to get my year's income on paper before then?? And if I have already paid taxes in the UK, why would they have to be paid here as well?

Since your home country (the UK) has a tax treaty with the US, you should not pay tax on anything you have already paid there, especially as regards dependent income (what I had in Italy). Anyway, here's a link to the tax treaty between the UK and the US:

http://www.irs.gov/businesses/internationa...=169552,00.html

I am rather hopeless when it comes to legal jargon (even in my own language), but I understood the point clearly. Hope you don't find it too difficult to figure out !

[USBrit 0]

I spoke to the IRS the other day about this exact topic. This is what I was told:

If married on or before Dec 31 you HAVE to file as married

Can file as married filing separately but this may mean you end up taxed higher i.e less refund or even owing

Can file as married jointly EVEN if your spouse does not have a Green Card - a resident for tax purposes has nothing to do with Green Cards etc. The "alien" spouse needs to write a letter and attach to the tax return indicating that s/he wishes to be treated as a resident for tax purposes. ANY income earned in the tax year will have to be reported (the US employs universal taxation) even if it was not earned in the US. However, look into the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion - if you qualify (which is most likely) much if not all of the foreign earned income can be excluded from US tax as the US has dual tax treaties with many countries. While I was back in the UK for 2 years I filed US taxes (as one has to) and used the Foreign Income Exclusion - I did not pay any US tax on my UK earnings which is most common unless you are earning a huge amount of money.

[rin and john 71]

Can file as married jointly EVEN if your spouse does not have a Green Card - a resident for tax purposes has nothing to do with Green Cards etc. The "alien" spouse needs to write a letter and attach to the tax return indicating that s/he wishes to be treated as a resident for tax purposes.

Actually, you can file married jointly even if your spouse has never set foot in the USA (let alone has a green card). We did this for tax year 2006. Rin and I married in October 2006. Her visa (K-3) was approved in April 2007. As USBrit said, we attached a letter from Rin indicating she wanted to be treated as a resident for tax purposes. As she was not here, we had to take the letter and her passport (and I think we filled out a form) to have her identity/signature (basically notarized) confirmed at the US Embassy in Bangkok.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I read all the IRS publications last weekend. Rin and John, Lucyrich, and US Brit are the correct posters in this thread as far I what I understood after doing the research.

If your spouse does not have a green card, you can declare with a statement attached to the 1040 filing form that you both elect to treat your new spouse as a resident alien for income tax purposes. You both have to sign it. Then you can file jointly. Otherwise a non resident alien can't file jointly. When you make that declaration, he is treated as a resident alien for the whole year 2008, not just the time he has been here. By making that declaration, worldwide income for the whole year 2008 must be reported for both spouses.

So if he/she worked in his home country part of 2008 before coming to the US, then any income earned abroad must be listed as income. BUT there is an exclusion of foreign income which for 2008 is $87,600 per individual. The non USC spouse has to figure out how much money he collected from employment from Jan 1, 2008 until he quit his job to move to the US. Then use some kind of conversion chart to change that figure into US dollars. If your foreign income received is not more than $87,600, then it all gets subtracted back off your joint income. Now your adjusted gross income that you pay taxes on is essentially only that earned by the USC in the US. And because the USC now has a spouse filing jointly, he will pay less taxes than he would if he were still single in most cases.

There is a form 2555-EZ where you fill out your exclusion. There's some questions about residency in that country asking if you were present for 330 days during any 12 month period that ended in 2008. Most of you were probably present in that foreign county your whole life until you moved here. It doesn't mean 330 days in calendar year 2008. It is 330 days out of any 12 month period...like Jan 2007 to Jan 2008, or October 2007 to October 2008.

So I tried TurboTax Basic to see if it caught on to all this stuff. I put in some estimated numbers and answered all the question format they use, saying my spouse was a resident alien. BINGO! It worked. Put everything in the proper place and excluded the income I put in for my foreign spouse. It even asked when his residency started in the UK. I put his birthdate since he's a life long resident. And the best news is I should be getting a refund when I normally owe additional payments. Having a spouse is a good thing for taxes.

I see the declaration of your spouse as a resident alien and filing jointly as the best choice unless you earned over 87,600 US dollar equivalent in your foreign job in 2008. Then you might want to look at the other options. A joint return would also look good at the AOS interview.

Sorry for the long post, but trying to simplify some very involved IRS talk is difficult.

Edited January 8, 2009 by Nich-Nick

[JoeCanuk 3]

Oh great. So the tax people lied to me? Wonderful. I "don't" think I'll be using them this year.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Oh, and I forgot something important to new couples and another reason to file jointly.

Remember last years Tax Stimulus Payment (for 2007 filers) where you got a rebate up to $600 per person/$1200 per couple if filing joint? Well for 2008 there's the Recovery Rebate Credit. So if you didn't get your rebate last year (because you didn't file), or didn't get the full amount because your income was too high then you might get some more for the 2008 return under the new Recovery Rebate Credit.

In my case, my income was too high to get the whole $600, so I got around $375. But for the 2008 return, no longer single and filing jointly with my spouse, I will get the rest of the $600 I didn't get last year, plus we get Nick's $600 because he didn't get any last year. I read it and tried it out on turbo tax and it worked out that way. So even if you got the whole $600 last year as a single tax payer, you should be able to collect your spouses $600 this year.

It is all specific to individual situations and incomes, but may work out for you in the same way. And if you had another child this year, then I think you get to collect for him because he didn't get any for 2007. I'm not totally up on what people got for children because I don't have any dependent children. Was it $300 per child??

Edited January 9, 2009 by Nich-Nick

[WhidbeyGirl 1]

Hi all, just stumbled upon this thread and read with GREAT interest. Unfortunately I am still a little confused.

Here's my stats:

Married SO in November 2008

He is NOT here as we have yet to submit the I-130, still waiting on somethings

Have 4 kids 6 to 18 living at home

So what do I file? I'm married, but not living together and IF I file MFS there are problems collecting EIC & Child Tax Credit which I rely on every year. Having him as a spouse won't do me any benefit as I am always at $0 when I get to the tax line. But if the stimulus is retroactive for me I would LOVE the extra $600 for being married. But I was told by someone else (not a tax person) that since SO didn't live here we wouldn't get it.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi all, just stumbled upon this thread and read with GREAT interest. Unfortunately I am still a little confused.

Here's my stats:

Married SO in November 2008

He is NOT here as we have yet to submit the I-130, still waiting on somethings

Have 4 kids 6 to 18 living at home

So what do I file? I'm married, but not living together and IF I file MFS there are problems collecting EIC & Child Tax Credit which I rely on every year. Having him as a spouse won't do me any benefit as I am always at $0 when I get to the tax line. But if the stimulus is retroactive for me I would LOVE the extra $600 for being married. But I was told by someone else (not a tax person) that since SO didn't live here we wouldn't get it.

I know if you were married in 2008 then you can not file single any more. I believe you qualify as Head of Household, which is normally for single people with dependent children. But there is an exception if you lived apart from your spouse at least 6 months during 2008. Or if your spouse was a non-resident alien. Then you are considered "unmarried" for tax filing purposes. If you file HoH then the joint filing option and claiming his Recovery Credit wouldn't apply. You could experiment with both and see which offers you the best deal. I didn't read up on your situation that carefully so can't say for certain that you and he have the option for filing jointly like I was explaining above.

[rin and john 71]

Hi all, just stumbled upon this thread and read with GREAT interest. Unfortunately I am still a little confused.

Here's my stats:

Married SO in November 2008

He is NOT here as we have yet to submit the I-130, still waiting on somethings

Have 4 kids 6 to 18 living at home

So what do I file? I'm married, but not living together and IF I file MFS there are problems collecting EIC & Child Tax Credit which I rely on every year. Having him as a spouse won't do me any benefit as I am always at $0 when I get to the tax line. But if the stimulus is retroactive for me I would LOVE the extra $600 for being married. But I was told by someone else (not a tax person) that since SO didn't live here we wouldn't get it.

I know if you were married in 2008 then you can not file single any more. I believe you qualify as Head of Household, which is normally for single people with dependent children. But there is an exception if you lived apart from your spouse at least 6 months during 2008. Or if your spouse was a non-resident alien. Then you are considered "unmarried" for tax filing purposes. If you file HoH then the joint filing option and claiming his Recovery Credit wouldn't apply. You could experiment with both and see which offers you the best deal. I didn't read up on your situation that carefully so can't say for certain that you and he have the option for filing jointly like I was explaining above.

To receive the tax rebate, SSNs are required (I waited to file until September this year until after Rin and the children had theirs). If your spouse does not have a SSN, then no Recovery Credit. You can file MFS or MFJ (even if he is not in the US - I did this with Rin for TY 2006). Nich-Nick is correct, you cannot file as single. I am not familiar with filing HOH, EIC, and the child tax credit so cannot comment on these.

[rin and john 71]

Read thru a little of the IRS guidelines on EIC:

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p596/ch01.html

Filing MFJ might increase the EIC. But several "rules" have to be met.

Rule 2: Does your spouse have a SSN? If yes, rule 2 won't be an issue. If no, then you could not file MFJ (options listed include filing an extension for six months if that allows for sufficient time to get a SSN; or filing MFJ, not receiving EIC, then filing an amended return 1040X to reclaim the EIC).

Rule 3: Cannot file MFS. Options are MFJ or HOH. Reference IRS Publ. 501.

Rule 4: Must be USC or resident alien for the full year (if you filed MFJ, your spouse would elect to be treated as a resident alien for the entire year).

Rule 5: Cannot file form 2555 (exclusion of foreign income). Did your spouse have income? If so, it would have to be claimed, and would reduce your EIC and increase your taxes. You would have to calculate both ways (MFJ and HOH) to determine if the gains from filing MFJ would outweigh the losses in EIC and increased taxes.

Probably the easiest thing to do would be to file HOH, get the EIC, and then once your husband is here and has a SSN, recalculate your taxes. If it would be better, file an amended return for TY 2008 (I believe you have up to 3 years to file an amended return).

[rin and john 71]

This is an interesting site:

http://www.taxcreditresources.org/pages.cf...p;dynamicID=636

As it states the CTC can be taken on a MFS tax return (differs from the EIC). Also, the EIC requires a SSN for your spouse, the CTC a SSN or ITIN.

WhidbeyGirl - There are a myriad of ways your taxes could be filed. MFJ, MFS, HOH. Each has pluses and minuses depending on your income level, number of dependents, foreign income, etc. You should read through the appropriate publications to try to understand the various scenarios. Turbotax or Taxcuts may help you run several "what if" calculations. Additional help is also available to low income individuals (http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc101.html).

[Craig & Julia 0]

...

So I tried TurboTax Basic to see if it caught on to all this stuff. I put in some estimated numbers and answered all the question format they use, saying my spouse was a resident alien. BINGO! It worked. Put everything in the proper place and excluded the income I put in for my foreign spouse. It even asked when his residency started in the UK. I put his birthdate since he's a life long resident. And the best news is I should be getting a refund when I normally owe additional payments. Having a spouse is a good thing for taxes.

I see the declaration of your spouse as a resident alien and filing jointly as the best choice unless you earned over 87,600 US dollar equivalent in your foreign job in 2008. Then you might want to look at the other options. A joint return would also look good at the AOS interview.

Sorry for the long post, but trying to simplify some very involved IRS talk is difficult.

Thanks everyone for the great info. I'll have to see if TaxCut (What I usually use to do my taxes) handles it as well as TurboTax, if not then I will switch. I'm guessing you did not file electronically so you could attach the statement of being a resident alien? Did you just write one sentence and sign it?