Filing married but seperately- Federal Income Tax

[ringosl10 0]

Please give me an answer as soon as you guys can. Thank you sooo much in advance!!

I had to file an extension for my taxes 2009 since I was married in Dec 2009 in Sri Lanka. Now it's August and we've received letter from NVC (already paid the fee) to file my I-864 for my husband. Unfortunately I cant file my I-864 until I finish the most recent 2009 tax return.

I need to know:

1a) should I apply jointly and wouldn't getting an ITIN for him will delay the process plus does that mean he first have to apply for it from Sri Lanka and then wait 6 weeks for ITIN and at that point file for taxes or can I send my return with the W7 form for my husband along with a notarized passport?

1b) I've already have notarized passport from him but it's not from US consulate and does it really have to be. I read something about Hague convention non participant countries have to get it notarized from the US consulate.

OR

2) should I file married but seperately and even in this case it still asks for a SSN/ITIN. And the new rule you cant put NRA or any other lettering there. So what should I do. Do i still have to apply for ITIN for my husband.

Can I just print the papers and send a letter describing that he doesnt have an SSN and that I'm filing separately.

Please let me know what would be the fastest and correct way to do this with out delay.

Thank you sooo much!

[agynyame 2]

Please give me an answer as soon as you guys can. Thank you sooo much in advance!!

I had to file an extension for my taxes 2009 since I was married in Dec 2009 in Sri Lanka. Now it's August and we've received letter from NVC (already paid the fee) to file my I-864 for my husband. Unfortunately I cant file my I-864 until I finish the most recent 2009 tax return.

I need to know:

1a) should I apply jointly and wouldn't getting an ITIN for him will delay the process plus does that mean he first have to apply for it from Sri Lanka and then wait 6 weeks for ITIN and at that point file for taxes or can I send my return with the W7 form for my husband along with a notarized passport?

1b) I've already have notarized passport from him but it's not from US consulate and does it really have to be. I read something about Hague convention non participant countries have to get it notarized from the US consulate.

OR

2) should I file married but seperately and even in this case it still asks for a SSN/ITIN. And the new rule you cant put NRA or any other lettering there. So what should I do. Do i still have to apply for ITIN for my husband.

Can I just print the papers and send a letter describing that he doesnt have an SSN and that I'm filing separately.

Please let me know what would be the fastest and correct way to do this with out delay.

Thank you sooo much!

Hi ringos,

The fact of the matter is that you will face some delay unless you file your taxes now as single (status). In the meantime, get the w-7 and fill it out. Scan it and email it to your husband. Let him print and fedex it to you. You will need him to send a copy of his biographical page with the form when he returns it. Have that passport page notarized and then file for an amended 1040X and change your status to married. Then along with the W-7, 1040X and the notarized copy of the biographical page of your husband's passport, you will send all it to the IRS ITIN Operation center in Austin Tx. It should take about six weeks for them to give your husband an ITIN and then maybe you receive a nice refund or lower the taxes that you may owe the government.

On the other hand since you are already at the NVC stage, your husband may be coming soon and that means he will be assigned with a SSN. I will wait until he gets it then file an amendment to your return. As the IRS agent explained to me, one has three years to do that.

In summary, if you do not want to wait, I will file now as single and take my time to amend it later. However, I am not a tax agent and I am sure there people more qualified than me. I will also encourage you to call IRS 800-829-1040 and explain the situation and see what they say.

Good luck

[ringosl10 0]

Hi agynyame,

Thank you so much for your fast reply.

I've talked to IRS people and there's no help (they tell me to speak to Social security Admin and ask them to send me a denial letter specifying that my husband is not eligible for SSN) and then attach that with the W7 when I file my return. That confused me alot since my husband is eligible for SSN and I feel doing that would make a mess. Also, the HR block ppl have no clue when it comes to ITIN's.

I've talked to HR block before April 15th and they said since I was married at the end of 2009, there is NO WAY i can file tax return as a single person.

I'm curious what happens if I file as a "married but filing separately" do I still need an ITIN? At the moment this seems the fastest way.

ringosl

[ringosl10 0]

Also say for example I file jointly and I send him the w7 form along with other documents to IRS then I can still finish my I-864 now since NVC only need to know that I file taxes and that I have enough income to bring my husband to US right. So I can just get a copy of the tax return i'm filing along with other documents and send that to NVC when I'm applying for I-864 right? I dont have to wait for 4 to 6 weeks until they send an ITIN for him. ITIN is purely used just to file taxes and there's no use of that number to NVC and the only thing they need is my income, letter from job, pay stubs for 6 months and copies of federal income tax up to three years.

Can someone confirm this for me. That it's okay to not wait 6 weeks to file I-864.

Thanks!!!

[New Beginnings 32]

Ok, so you shouldn't file single because you are in fact married. You will need to get him an ITIN whether you file jointly or separately. No way around it. You won't get approved for an SSN until you get the visa approval... you will need to prove your taxes have been paid and filed prior to that happening. Get started on it now, it will delay the process but it's necessary to do this.

It does need to be notarized from a US Consulate. Have your husband take his passport there and make a copy and get it notarized, I believe it's a $30 fee or close to that.

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Filing status on your taxes is not audited to your martial status. Right now it makes sense to file single and then when he gets here amend it if it means more money in your pocket.

[ringosl10 0]

Thanks NewBeginnings! The more I'm reading this the more it feels like I have no way around the delay but to apply for an ITIN and just wait..hoping it's not going to be too long of a delya!!

It's just that there were some respondents who I've seen had said in a different visajourney discussion that they filed "married but filing seperately" and didn't include an SSN/ITIN for husband, sent the printed version via mail had IRS filed the Fed Income tax with out any problem, and also had no problems filing for their husbands I-864.

But later her state sent her a letter saying that some information is missing (husbands - SSN/ITIN) and then she has written them saying she's filing "married but seperately" and that her husband has never worked or lived in US and has already filed federal which they processed and then asked the STATE (NY in her case) to continue processing. State processed it and sent her a refund with in 2 weeks. So..was hoping there were others like this and that may be I could do this which will reduce the delay.

Thanks again for all your comments!! All help is welcome and appreciated!

[ringosl10 0]

Also can some one pls confirm that the only tax information im supposed to submit for I-864 is ONLY copies of the FEDERAL TAX RETURN and that I dont have to submit the state tax return as well....

[LotofPatience 65]

Also can some one pls confirm that the only tax information im supposed to submit for I-864 is ONLY copies of the FEDERAL TAX RETURN and that I dont have to submit the state tax return as well....

For I-864, only Federal Tax return is considered.

Loto

[carolynhotstuff 252]

I am married with one child. I called the IRS and was told I could file head of household sense my husband is still in Pakistan with no SSN. That is what I did. If you want to save time I would file the return as single. It will not hurt your husband at the interview that you didn't file jointly.

[LotofPatience 65]

I am married with one child. I called the IRS and was told I could file head of household sense my husband is still in Pakistan with no SSN. That is what I did. If you want to save time I would file the return as single. It will not hurt your husband at the interview that you didn't file jointly.

Please post how was your interview.

Loto

[Casprd 167]

I was looking in to this issue and the tax attorneys I have talked to said if I filed married and joint then we have to pay US taxes on my wife's overseas income. The problem is that in China, she doesn't get any kind of year end wages statement that could be used to verify her wages. So the end result was filing married and separate.

[ringosl10 0]

Thank you Lotofpatience!

Also Casprd you brought up a good point that I'm just now starting to realize. I checked and Sri Lanka doesn't have any year end wages where they could verify how much my husband earns a year. I was thinking of getting that information from where he works but i'm afraid they might have a difficulty verifying that at IRS. I was wondering if i could get that certified by the US consulate in Sri lanka or not.

Anyways thank you for your comment. I'll have to keep searching on this.

[LotofPatience 65]

Thank you Lotofpatience!

Also Casprd you brought up a good point that I'm just now starting to realize. I checked and Sri Lanka doesn't have any year end wages where they could verify how much my husband earns a year. I was thinking of getting that information from where he works but i'm afraid they might have a difficulty verifying that at IRS. I was wondering if i could get that certified by the US consulate in Sri lanka or not.

Anyways thank you for your comment. I'll have to keep searching on this.

I am posting a note for you here. Please wait couple of minutes.

Loto

[LotofPatience 65]

It MIGHT probably create a small issue (sometimes it may not) for you. If you are married, as per IRS rules, you are not single. Either you have to file "Married Jointly" or "Married Separately". MFJ is the best option since it will give additional bonafide of your marriage in USCIS point of view and would fetch max. refund from IRS as well. To file MFJ, you need your spouse's ITIN that can be obtained with the Federal tax return by completing W7 form and required documents such as spouse's passport copy etc. For AOS review, state return is not needed.

Hope this helps out!

Loto