Income Tax filing newly married

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

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?

I only tried out the free online version of TurboTax without even signing up with a user name. I wanted to see if Turbo Tax Basic (cheapest version) dealt with immigrants. I just put minimal info on the name, address, social security number, etc. pages because I wasn't really filing. I just clicked "Next" to get on through to the tax part. I estimated income, interest, dividends and put in some figures and worked on to the end. It's question and answer so it got to the part about "did you receive a tax stimulus payment for 2007?" "How much?" "Did your spouse receive a stimulus payment for 2007?" Also it asked questions about the dates he was in the US, did he have foreign income, what country, when did he begin residence there...things like that. I guess it was drilling down to that rule about being resident in the foreign country 330 days out of any 12 months ending in the year 2008. So that's how I worked it out...just estimates because I haven't received official end of the year investment statements or W2s yet. I always buy the software, rather than doing the online, but haven't bought it yet and was curious.

I think TaxCut will do just as well and it's usually cheaper than TurboTax. I used TaxCut for many years. The only reason I switched is because Turbo Tax has an agreement with a lot of investment firms and can download your taxable investment info straight into your return. So instead of me manually putting in interest, dividends, capital gains, TurboTax just gets it and magically fills out all the forms putting each thing where it goes and completing Schedule D. Love that feature for my needs. It will do the same thing for W2s from some of the big employers.

You are correct about not being able to file electronically because of having to add the statement of your intent to declare your spouse as a resident alien for tax purposes. There are also some specific rules about the information to include in your statement.

Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident

Making the choice

Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to your joint return for the first tax year for which the choice applies. It should contain the following information.

• A declaration that one spouse was a non- resident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year.

• The name, address, and taxpayer identification number (SSN or ITIN) of each

spouse.

[rin and john 71]

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?

I only tried out the free online version of TurboTax without even signing up with a user name. I wanted to see if Turbo Tax Basic (cheapest version) dealt with immigrants. I just put minimal info on the name, address, social security number, etc. pages because I wasn't really filing. I just clicked "Next" to get on through to the tax part. I estimated income, interest, dividends and put in some figures and worked on to the end. It's question and answer so it got to the part about "did you receive a tax stimulus payment for 2007?" "How much?" "Did your spouse receive a stimulus payment for 2007?" Also it asked questions about the dates he was in the US, did he have foreign income, what country, when did he begin residence there...things like that. I guess it was drilling down to that rule about being resident in the foreign country 330 days out of any 12 months ending in the year 2008. So that's how I worked it out...just estimates because I haven't received official end of the year investment statements or W2s yet. I always buy the software, rather than doing the online, but haven't bought it yet and was curious.

I think TaxCut will do just as well and it's usually cheaper than TurboTax. I used TaxCut for many years. The only reason I switched is because Turbo Tax has an agreement with a lot of investment firms and can download your taxable investment info straight into your return. So instead of me manually putting in interest, dividends, capital gains, TurboTax just gets it and magically fills out all the forms putting each thing where it goes and completing Schedule D. Love that feature for my needs. It will do the same thing for W2s from some of the big employers.

You are correct about not being able to file electronically because of having to add the statement of your intent to declare your spouse as a resident alien for tax purposes. There are also some specific rules about the information to include in your statement.

Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident

Making the choice

Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to your joint return for the first tax year for which the choice applies. It should contain the following information.

• A declaration that one spouse was a non- resident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year.

• The name, address, and taxpayer identification number (SSN or ITIN) of each

spouse.

You cannot file electronically when using an ITIN. The form requesting the ITIN must be attached to your tax return and the entire package sent to a location in TX. They assign an ITIN, then forward the return for processing (took us 4 months to get a return when we filed in 2007).

John

[Craig & Julia 0]

You cannot file electronically when using an ITIN. The form requesting the ITIN must be attached to your tax return and the entire package sent to a location in TX. They assign an ITIN, then forward the return for processing (took us 4 months to get a return when we filed in 2007).

John

Luckily my wife has a social security card/number from either when she was here as an Aupair or student previously. It looks just like my card except it says "Valid for work only with INS authorization". Either way i'm hoping/guessing she won't need a ITIN number. But, it sounds like I can't file electronically anyways as there's no way to include a signed statement...Atleast I shouldn't have to wait?

[rin and john 71]

You cannot file electronically when using an ITIN. The form requesting the ITIN must be attached to your tax return and the entire package sent to a location in TX. They assign an ITIN, then forward the return for processing (took us 4 months to get a return when we filed in 2007).

John

Luckily my wife has a social security card/number from either when she was here as an Aupair or student previously. It looks just like my card except it says "Valid for work only with INS authorization". Either way i'm hoping/guessing she won't need a ITIN number. But, it sounds like I can't file electronically anyways as there's no way to include a signed statement...Atleast I shouldn't have to wait?

Her SSN will not change, so you won't need an ITIN. I would think the wait wouldn't be long. Out of the four months we waited, almost three of it was spent waiting for an ITIN to be issued.

[WhidbeyGirl 1]

Thank you all for the help. I guess I'll run the scenarios in Turbo Tax. I think I'll probably go with HoH and IF SO gets here this year (UNLIKELY) I'll file a change.

[BTalley 0]

So let me get this straight.

My wife is a non-resident alien (we just sent AOS packet in last week), but we will notify IRS that we want her to be considered a resident alien for tax purposes.

Thus, we need to include the income she made as an English teacher in Russia.

But what documentation (if any) is necessary? We can estimate her paltry income (about 13,000 rubles per month for 9 months), but we have no statements documenting it.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I haven't seen any reference to having to document that income with something on paper. It wouldn't hurt to work it out on paper and show your conversion rate used just to keep as notes for your records in the event you got a random audit.

[marjo2008 0]

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.

hi rin@john, i'm still confused here, do i consider myself resident-alien here r non-resident alien? I arrived here on K-1 visa last Sept. 08 and got married on Nov. and we are filing my AOS this month. I have no income last 2008 prior coming here in US. I understand that we need to file jointly since i'vr got my ssn already but my question is am i still a non-resident alien?

[tom&tata 2]

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.

hi rin@john, i'm still confused here, do i consider myself resident-alien here r non-resident alien? I arrived here on K-1 visa last Sept. 08 and got married on Nov. and we are filing my AOS this month. I have no income last 2008 prior coming here in US. I understand that we need to file jointly since i'vr got my ssn already but my question is am i still a non-resident alien?

As spouse of USC you can choose to be a resident for tax purposes even if you don't have SSN yet. Since you said you have SSN, you can file married joint without hassle of applying for ITIN. You need to include a statement choosing to be treated as resident alien for tax purposes in your return - see above post of what is needed in the statement.

[Sandrila 1]

I have asked myself this same ?

I think I may have still filed single even when married in 2007

this year I got the advice to file married jointly even tho he did not work at all last year

[payxibka 10,045]

I have asked myself this same ?

I think I may have still filed single even when married in 2007

this year I got the advice to file married jointly even tho he did not work at all last year

you still can amend 2007 if you wish

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

, i'm still confused here, do i consider myself resident-alien here r non-resident alien? I arrived here on K-1 visa last Sept. 08 and got married on Nov. and we are filing my AOS this month. I have no income last 2008 prior coming here in US. I understand that we need to file jointly since i'vr got my ssn already but my question is am i still a non-resident alien?

You are a non-resident alien if you don't have a green card. BUT just for tax purposes if you marry a US citizen, you can be treated like a resident alien by the IRS for tax filing taxes. That doesn't change your status with the USCIS or give you any new immigration privileges or work privileges. Is that what you are confused over? You only get the benefit of filing jointly with your USC spouse, even if you don't have USCIS resident status/green card yet. You have to write a statement together saying you both choose for you to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. See my earlier post about what the statement has to include.

[Martin&Nat 0]

Also it asked questions about the dates he was in the US, did he have foreign income, what country, when did he begin residence there...things like that.

Are you asked the date you became a US resident? If so (not yet received Green Card), do you just put down the date you arrived in the US?

Thanks!

- Martin

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I've forgotten exactly what it said, but it was the day you began residing in the US...in your case, the POE day. It was something like that. Just go to turbotax.com and do the free online. Make up names and some income amounts and just click next to see the questions it will ask. If you don't want to bother with alot of details, just click next. Answer questions about "are you a US citizen" or things like that so it will take you down the right path. It will tell you to create an account several times and I just said No or not now...whatever the choice was. You won't really get your exact tax stuff without real numbers but you can see the questions it asks. I still haven't bought TurboTax yet. I keep hoping it will go on sale in February when people actually start their taxes. Normally it's reduced but this year I think they are offering free e-filings and sticking to $29.99. Unfortunately I can't e-file so that's not going to give me any extra benefit.

If you want to use the free online, then fill it in completely and create an account. Go back in as you get your tax stuff in the mail. I've gotten two things already. It should do for many people.

[Jack and Barbara 0]

Hi everyone,

There is some real good information here and I am glad I took another look at this tax informaiton prior to filing on behalf of my spouse. We married in 2008 but did not immeadiately request for a SSN for her (I believe that you can only request for it before the K-1 visa expires, maybe I'm wrong). We have filed for AOS and she has already completed ehr biometrics for I-765 & I-485 and has received her AP and EAD authorizations. Based on this information, is she eligible to apply for SSN? If so, which would be quicker - her filing SSN or ITIN? I've read posts about ITIN taking up to 4 months which is right around the April filing deadlines for income tax purposes.

Please advise and thank you!