2009 Income Tax

[PK and PK 13]

That's where we would get hit, he made a lot more than me and we did not want to have to count his income... So I filed married (his name is on the tax returns) but seperatly without a SSN... I did not want to run into tax issues based on his income as he paid taxes in Italy....

As far as the OP, sounds like others here have a better handle on filing jointly as it was not efficient for me.

Christeen,

You can still get tax benefits by filing married jointly even his income is Italy based.

There is a form called "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555)."

By fling 1040 (jointly) and 2555 (for him) together, you can waive his income from US taxes but still can claim standard or itemized deduction for 2.

You cannot waive all the income. Something around $85K. So best to work it out both ways and see which saves you money.

[sama 0]

Thank you everyone for all of your responses. I guess I should have also mentioned that I usually file Head of Household as I have children from a previous marriage. I live in Texas so we only have to file a federal return.

Based on the responses, it looks like I have to weigh the following:

(1) File married and apply for ITIN and 2555

(2) File married but separate. I did my uncle's taxes last year this way and found that you can not E-File when choosing this option. When I E-File I usually get my refund within 10 days. My uncle had to wait 6 weeks.

(3) File Head of Household like I normally do. I'm wondering if 2010 taxes will be a problem when I file married. I think I remember the software I use asks for the date we got married. Will this send up a red flag to the IRS?

Jazakallah Khair

Sama

[Peter&Jaime 1]

Thank you everyone for all of your responses. I guess I should have also mentioned that I usually file Head of Household as I have children from a previous marriage. I live in Texas so we only have to file a federal return.

Based on the responses, it looks like I have to weigh the following:

(1) File married and apply for ITIN and 2555

(2) File married but separate. I did my uncle's taxes last year this way and found that you can not E-File when choosing this option. When I E-File I usually get my refund within 10 days. My uncle had to wait 6 weeks.

(3) File Head of Household like I normally do. I'm wondering if 2010 taxes will be a problem when I file married. I think I remember the software I use asks for the date we got married. Will this send up a red flag to the IRS?

Jazakallah Khair

Sama

I went to an IRS office last year to try to get an ITIN number before doing my taxes and was told you can't do that anymore and can only get it when filing your taxes. This makes it so you are unable to E-File. Just FYI.