AOS Interview issue

[Moeru 0]

Description says it all. I recently filed my taxes single as I lost my job before we were married. According to the list, I need income tax return showing I filed married. I'm slightly panicing here because I can't change it now and if I just screwed everything up, I'm gonna throw things

and to head off any questions, I have a co-sponsor that can meet the requirements for financials

[hcj 0]

You can amend your tax return by filing form 1040X. If you were married on Dec 31, 2005, you should have filed your 2005 taxes as "married" -- both from the IRS perspective as well as the USCIS perspective.

[Moeru 0]

You can amend your tax return by filing form 1040X. If you were married on Dec 31, 2005, you should have filed your 2005 taxes as "married" -- both from the IRS perspective as well as the USCIS perspective.

Do I have to file jointly or seperate? She quit work 2 weeks before she moved in with me which was 2 months before the marriage

[Erica&Terry 0]

You can amend your tax return by filing form 1040X. If you were married on Dec 31, 2005, you should have filed your 2005 taxes as "married" -- both from the IRS perspective as well as the USCIS perspective.

Do I have to file jointly or seperate? She quit work 2 weeks before she moved in with me which was 2 months before the marriage

As long as you file or amend to file as married, it shouldn't make a difference whether you file "Married Filing Jointly" or "Married Filing Separately".

Erica

[motu 6]

If you were married on the last day of the year - you should file as married (you can decide to do it jointly or married filing separately based on which one is more benfecial to you e.g. whoich way you get higher refund.) It doesn't married when you worked or quit or didn't work! Entiende? And now you can just amend your return and take copies of the amended return/s as well as the originally filed return with you. Good Luck

[Moeru 0]

If you were married on the last day of the year - you should file as married (you can decide to do it jointly or married filing separately based on which one is more benfecial to you e.g. whoich way you get higher refund.) It doesn't married when you worked or quit or didn't work! Entiende? And now you can just amend your return and take copies of the amended return/s as well as the originally filed return with you. Good Luck

Awesome. I'm gonna do it seperately since it has less chance of affecting either of our returns but as long as its married is real easy to fix I can do that today

[skoopie 0]

Awesome. I'm gonna do it seperately since it has less chance of affecting either of our returns but as long as its married is real easy to fix I can do that today

If i were you, i'd file as married filing jointly. My lawyer said regardless of what the tax returns are (e.g. if filing seperately is more financially advantagous), file as a married couple jointly because it shows that you're commited? Dont know if that holds any weight, but i followed his advice.

[Kez/JWolf 6]

We were told to file married Jointly as well....... lawyer told us it looks better that taxes are joint...... more evidence of co-mingled finances.....

Kezzie

[hcj 0]

Awesome. I'm gonna do it seperately since it has less chance of affecting either of our returns but as long as its married is real easy to fix I can do that today

Why would filing separately have less chance of affecting either of your returns? "Married filing separately" is not the same (refund-wise) as filing "single". You will probably reduce your refund/owe more taxes (when compared to filing as "single") no matter what you do.

You should work out your taxes both ways -- married filing jointly and married filing separately -- and see if one gets you a bigger refund than the other.

Also, the last poster is correct. "Married filing separately" may be viewed by USCIS as the two of you not comingling your finances. My accountant says that most of his clients who file separately do so because they want to keep their finances very separate -- i.e. one spouse has a lot of assets in his/her name only and the other spouse has no right to the assets. Filing taxes separately helps to preserve the distinction between what's "his" and what's "hers" in case they divorce down the line. So unless you can demonstrate a huge financial advantage to filing separately, filing jointly is probably better. At least it won't raise any eyebrows.