Instructions for filing taxes with spouse outside of the country

[BPham 0]

I have noticed conflicting advice with regard to filing taxes whilst the spouse of a USA citizen is out of the country. This is the procedure we used. It is recommended that once married, for maximum financial benefit, the spouses file as married, filing jointly. The foreign spouse does NOT need to be in the USA in order to do this.Firstly, it is impossible to e-file, as e-filers need SSN's for both spouses. As the non USA spouse will not have an SSN, it is necessary to apply for an ITIN number.The procedure is as follows:Download IRS form W7, and the instructions from the IRS website.http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdfhttp://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw7.pdfThe foreign spouse must complete the form, sign it and send it to the USA spouse complete with a notarized copy of their passport.On receipt, the USA resident has to file taxes by mail. I highly recommend Turbo Tax 2010, as this program allows a the IRS tax returns to be easily printed and filed. As stated above, you can NOT use the e-file feature, you print the tax return the old fashioned way.http://turbotax.intuit.com/Once you have completed (married, filing jointly) and printed the return, gather your supporting documents, attach your foreign spouses completed W7 form to the front, and mail to:Internal Revenue ServiceITIN OperationP.O. Box 149342Austin, TX 78714-9342You must do this before April 17th 2011. Once this is received, an ITIN number will be issued, and the tax form processed. You should get your refund in around 8 weeks, as it takes 6 weeks to get the ITIN number allocated.That's all there is to it.

Nobody has mentioned this so far but I believe it's important to those filing jointly for the first time. According to the folowing link: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch01.html#en_US_publink1000222193, if your spouse is living outside of the country he/she is a "nonresident alien". If you want to file married jointly, the spouse must be treated as a "resident alien". In order to do that you need to make the choice to treat your "nonresident" spouse as a "resident" spouse for tax year 2010. According to the article you need to attach a statement to your tax return: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:

1. A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident 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
2. The name, address, and identification number of each spouse. (If one spouse died, include the name and address of the person making the choice for the deceased spouse.)

It's around $93,000 exclusion, so if she makes less than that it's completely tax-free.

My two favorite summary posts on how to do taxes. Just for my reference as well as anyone else who wants to file married jointly.

[fermat 32]

Well my comment is not really accurate regarding the foreign income under $93k being tax free. It turns out to be a lot more complicated than I assumed. You can take the foreign income "exclusion" which is not treated the same as a "deduction". It somehow comes from the bottom of your gross income when they calculate how much taxes you would have paid if you made only the ammount you reported as foreign income. They then take that figure and subtract it from how much taxes you would have paid if you added domestic and foreign income and calculated tax normally. Any foreign income essentially kicks the domestic income up into a higher tax bracket, resulting in a higher tax liability than if you just reported the domestic income alone. See my thread here for more details on my struggle with the tax software before I finally understood what was going on.

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/298159-income-tax-goes-up-when-reporting-excluded-income/page__hl__tax

My two favorite summary posts on how to do taxes. Just for my reference as well as anyone else who wants to file married jointly.

[OBX 51]

Well my comment is not really accurate regarding the foreign income under $93k being tax free. It turns out to be a lot more complicated than I assumed. You can take the foreign income "exclusion" which is not treated the same as a "deduction". It somehow comes from the bottom of your gross income when they calculate how much taxes you would have paid if you made only the ammount you reported as foreign income. They then take that figure and subtract it from how much taxes you would have paid if you added domestic and foreign income and calculated tax normally. Any foreign income essentially kicks the domestic income up into a higher tax bracket, resulting in a higher tax liability than if you just reported the domestic income alone. See my thread here for more details on my struggle with the tax software before I finally understood what was going on.

http://www.visajourn...e/page__hl__tax

Well explained. We found this out the hard way when my foreign income pushed my husband into a higher tax bracket.

[RommelandApril 1]

Just got mail from IRS stating the my wife didn't submit identification documents. She sent a notarized copy of her biographical page of her passport. About to call them and ask exactly what ><

[fermat 32]

This is for the ITIN application? I don't think you need identification documents if you already have an ITIN.

Just got mail from IRS stating the my wife didn't submit identification documents. She sent a notarized copy of her biographical page of her passport. About to call them and ask exactly what ><

[RommelandApril 1]

This is for the ITIN application? I don't think you need identification documents if you already have an ITIN.

This is for an application for an ITIN. We sent all the paperwork, 1040, W7, declaration and Notarized copy of her passport. We got a letter stating we didn't send identification documents.

:crying:

[Deb+Steve 13]

This is for an application for an ITIN. We sent all the paperwork, 1040, W7, declaration and Notarized copy of her passport. We got a letter stating we didn't send identification documents.

:crying:

Was the copy of her passport notarised at a US Embassy/Consulate? If not, then it needs to have an apostille.

[Magic_Knight 0]

Copies of documents must have an Apostille also.

Notarized AND Apostilled? Thanks.

[Magic_Knight 0]

To file married seperately, follow the guide, but under SPOUSES SSN, enter NRA. You will have to WRITE this in after printing, but the IRS WILL process it.

Hello,

My wife is from the Philippines. If I download the Turbo Tax 2010 software, can I file Married filing separately, leave the SSN field blank and print it, putting NRA in her SSN field, that way I can avoid all the W7 and notarization and stuff? Just want to get this over with already.

Thanks,

[RommelandApril 1]

Was the copy of her passport notarised at a US Embassy/Consulate? If not, then it needs to have an apostille.

I called the toll free number and they wanted a notarized copy from the US Embassy in Manila.

[Magic_Knight 0]

I called the toll free number and they wanted a notarized copy from the US Embassy in Manila.

How is everyone filing for their state taxes? I downloaded the software and did married filing separately, printed it out and put "NRA" in my wife's SSN field. I am going to send that in soon, but want to know how to do the state taxes. I live in California. Thanks!

[gil & gina 0]

I called the toll free number and they wanted a notarized copy from the US Embassy in Manila.

I also called them today, but they said: you can submit copies of original documents if you do any of

the following.

[

• Have the copies certified by the issuing agency or official custodian of the original record.
  
• Have the copies notarized by a U.S. notary public
  authorized within his or her local jurisdiction to certify that the
  document is a true copy of the original. To do this, the notary U.S.
  must see the valid, unaltered, original document and verify that the copy conforms to the original. Consular offices at U.S.
  Embassies and Consulates overseas may not certify true
  copies of foreign public documents and will refer applicants to
  the foreign authority that issued the document.
  

They just read to me what was written from the W7 instructions. My husband just had it notarized from DFA manila where his passport was issued.

[Me and my wife 9]

Notorized copy of passport will be enough evidence. I filled 1040 that is signed by my spouse, and let her fill W-7. I went to one of the IRS office and they processed my ITIN documents and I left paperworks with them for ITIN. I got a copy of all document i submitted and got stamp on each saying that they receive my documents.

[gil & gina 0]

How is everyone filing for their state taxes? I downloaded the software and did married filing separately, printed it out and put "NRA" in my wife's SSN field. I am going to send that in soon, but want to know how to do the state taxes. I live in California. Thanks!

Our taxes was done by HR block, as married filing jointly, but we have to go thru the whole process, from w7 >> passport notarization >> statement that my hubby would want to be considered as resident for tax purposes >>to form 2555EZ(to exclude my husband's income from the phils.) and I noticed that im getting more in return than filing separately. I did not know how to go about this whole process before, so most of the time I call IRS and franchise tax board (state). When I called franchise tax board, they mentioned about the 540-NR for a non-resident alien spouse, but that did not apply to me. Try calling them magic_knight, if you are not satisfied with their answer, just keep calling them until you're satisfied.

[Magic_Knight 0]

Our taxes was done by HR block, as married filing jointly, but we have to go thru the whole process, from w7 >> passport notarization >> statement that my hubby would want to be considered as resident for tax purposes >>to form 2555EZ(to exclude my husband's income from the phils.) and I noticed that im getting more in return than filing separately. I did not know how to go about this whole process before, so most of the time I call IRS and franchise tax board (state). When I called franchise tax board, they mentioned about the 540-NR for a non-resident alien spouse, but that did not apply to me. Try calling them magic_knight, if you are not satisfied with their answer, just keep calling them until you're satisfied.

Thanks for your reply.

This is seriously pissing me off! I guess I have no choice but to get an ITIN number? Once I get that from the IRS taxes, do I use that number as her SSN for my state taxes? Someone please let me know! Thanks.

Edit - I also need to ask, can I get her passport notarized at the U.S. Consulate in Cebu, instead of the Embassy in Manila? That would be silly.

Edited March 16, 2011 by Magic_Knight