Taxes

[karen123 0]

Any advice on filing US taxes when your spouse lives outside of the US and has no social yet?

I think I am required to file as married, since we maried in Dec, but not sure how to handle this.

I think the 2555 form is only for US citizens or residents, so not sure if I am suppose to include his foreign income or just file marry filing separately?

Somone told me married filing separately is the worst way to file for exemptions, etc.

Anyone familiar with this?

thanks,

Karen

[NutMagnet 2]

Any advice on filing US taxes when your spouse lives outside of the US and has no social yet?

I think I am required to file as married, since we maried in Dec, but not sure how to handle this.

I think the 2555 form is only for US citizens or residents, so not sure if I am suppose to include his foreign income or just file marry filing separately?

Somone told me married filing separately is the worst way to file for exemptions, etc.

Anyone familiar with this?

thanks,

Karen

You file for an ITIN number in place of a social Security number by sumbitting a From W-7

A couple of links:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html

http://www.thetaxguy.com/itin.htm

Married filing separately typically is the highest tax rate. Filing jointly you most always can take you foreign spouse's general deduction as well as your own, roughly another 5 grand you won't pay tax on.

[rin and john 71]

Any advice on filing US taxes when your spouse lives outside of the US and has no social yet?

I think I am required to file as married, since we maried in Dec, but not sure how to handle this.

I think the 2555 form is only for US citizens or residents, so not sure if I am suppose to include his foreign income or just file marry filing separately?

Somone told me married filing separately is the worst way to file for exemptions, etc.

Anyone familiar with this?

thanks,

Karen

Previous post is correct, your spouse will file for an ITIN. To file MFJ, the foreign spouse will need to include a letter saying they want to be treated as a 'resident' for TY 2009 (don't worry, DHS and the IRS have different definitions of 'resident' - see tax publication 519 at www.irs.gov). Scroll to the bottom of this link to 'non-resident spouse treated as a resident':

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch01....ublink100038991

You will also need to complete a 2555 for the foreign income exclusion (the foreign spouse's income is reported as regular income on the 1040, then subsequently removed from taxable income using the 2555). There is a limit on the excludable amount of $91,400 for TY2009, so unless your spouse made substantially more than $91K, you are most likely better off to file MFJ.

[karen123 0]

Thanks!!

[Deb+Steve 13]

I used the 2555EZ to calculate the exclusion and send to the husband. For the ID requirement for the W7 the easiest is to send a copy of the passport but it must have an Apostille to verify (if the country your spouse is from is a signatory to the Hague Convention).