NVC Filers - March 2012

[lizka 3]

Remember that filing as head of household is not the same as filing as single. Those are two different statuses with two different requirements. You can only file as single if you are actually unmarried or you are legally separated (as in, in the process of getting a divorce). You are eligible to file as head of household only if you have dependents. Otherwise, your only choices are married separate and married joint.

i am just relaying what IRS person told me and on the website it clearly states that you are considered single if your spouse and you have not shared a home for last 6 months. We have never lived together, and he is a non-resident, another reason it applies. called nvc to confirm this, it was confirmed that single is fine and no additional information will be needed.

from IRS website:

Considered Unmarried

To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests.

You file a separate return (defined earlier under Joint Return After Separate Returns ).

You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.

Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences , later.

View Postlizka, on 28 March 2012 - 05:34 PM, said:

from IRS website:

Considered Unmarried

To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests.

You file a separate return (defined earlier under Joint Return After Separate Returns ).

You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.

Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences , later.

also

Nonresident alien spouse. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes.

this applies, no?

[alizon 77]

i am just relaying what IRS person told me and on the website it clearly states that you are considered single if your spouse and you have not shared a home for last 6 months. We have never lived together, and he is a non-resident, another reason it applies. called nvc to confirm this, it was confirmed that single is fine and no additional information will be needed.

...

this applies, no?

Let me answer your second point first because that's easier to clear up: under normal circumstances, you must be unmarried to file as head of household. So yes, the qualifications you listed would help someone who is married qualify as unmarried for the purposes of filing as a head of household. BUT being unmarried is NOT the ONLY qualification that you need to meet to file for head of household. You must also have a qualifying dependent. See #7 on this link: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=105098,00.html

Obviously, I am not an IRS person, but everything from the IRS website contradicts what the person you spoke to said. You'll note on #3 of the link above that single filing status is for people "unmarried, divorced or legally separated according to state law." You are married under state law. Further, the only documentation that says a married person with a spouse abroad can be considered unmarried is for the purposes of remaining eligible to file as head of household. If you don't meet the other qualifications for head of household, then you don't qualify to use the unmarried status for your taxes. "You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household." http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2011_publink1000220721

Finally, from the same publication as above: "Your filing status is single if, on the last day of the year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree, and you do not qualify for another filing status." Because you are married, you do qualify for another filing status, which means you do not qualify to file as single.

All this has been discussed at length in other forums, as Darnell said earlier. You should take a look at those too because I'm not the only person with this opinion.

Edited March 29, 2012 by alizon

[Darnell 8,478]

there are other options, of course.

[gad33 47]

(Actually I know what he'd do.. he hadn't filled taxes with Revenue Canada since 2006. I made him sit down last summer and do all five years..)

Tooting the horn for my wonderful hubby, not only does he do the US taxes and his own Canadian taxes but he does my Canadian taxes as well.

Case complete email from NVC today!! When I called the guy said they only schedule interviews during the first two weeks of every month. I saw something about this on an earlier post on this thread, but can't find it now. Does anyone know if it's true?

It took NVC nearly 3 weeks to schedule my interview in Montreal

[gad33 47]

Let me answer your second point first because that's easier to clear up: under normal circumstances, you must be unmarried to file as head of household. So yes, the qualifications you listed would help someone who is married qualify as unmarried for the purposes of filing as a head of household. BUT being unmarried is NOT the ONLY qualification that you need to meet to file for head of household. You must also have a qualifying dependent. See #7 on this link: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=105098,00.html

Obviously, I am not an IRS person, but everything from the IRS website contradicts what the person you spoke to said. You'll note on #3 of the link above that single filing status is for people "unmarried, divorced or legally separated according to state law." You are married under state law. Further, the only documentation that says a married person with a spouse abroad can be considered unmarried is for the purposes of remaining eligible to file as head of household. If you don't meet the other qualifications for head of household, then you don't qualify to use the unmarried status for your taxes. "You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household." http://www.irs.gov/publications/p501/ar02.html#en_US_2011_publink1000220721

Finally, from the same publication as above: "Your filing status is single if, on the last day of the year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree, and you do not qualify for another filing status." Because you are married, you do qualify for another filing status, which means you do not qualify to file as single.

All this has been discussed at length in other forums, as Darnell said earlier. You should take a look at those too because I'm not the only person with this opinion.

Wow Alizon. This doesn't affect us as we have always filed MFJ but this is a great but succinct explanation. I'm sure someone will appreciate it.

[Saylin 1,605]

hey everyone, the tax docs wouldn't let me pass through wihtout and ITIN or SS number for my husbands, so i called irs. i filed my taxes as single, since i talked to the IRS and they said that definition of single includes if you and your husband don't live together, and haven't in the past 6 months. does nvc know this, or do i need to have my husband explain it with proof from IRS website that this is why i had to file as 'single' because my husband is not here, nor does he file taxes in the us??? PLEASE REPLY!

No online program will allow you to file married separately/jointly. That's why you have to file by PAPER. Then you put 'NRA' in the SSN section for the spouse for MFS.

You should NOT have filed as single. You are NOT single. You are legally MARRIED. IRS agents you talked to are not familiar with cases where the spouse lives abroad.

Amend your tax return ASAP.

Goal for the Day ACHIEVED! Yaaay! IV Package is finally in the mail bound to NVC! Hooray!

Grats!

just paid the IV fee

for the DS-230 I´m gonna send in:

barcoded cover sheet

DS-230

copy of my passport page

passport pics

certified copy of the marriage license (IN has marriage application and license instead of license and certificate...)

original international birth certificate

original police certificate (it´s in german and english, so no problems with translations)

and a copy of all of those documents. case number on the top right corner...

did i forget anything?

Grats!

And your list looks good

Case complete email from NVC today!! When I called the guy said they only schedule interviews during the first two weeks of every month. I saw something about this on an earlier post on this thread, but can't find it now. Does anyone know if it's true?

Grats on the CC!

And operators are lying when they say they only schedule interviews during the second week. They schedule ALL month long. Proof: I was scheduled during the FOURTH week.

i tried doing that, i filed online, it didn't let me, so i called IRS and followed their rules, which was to file single, called NVC to confirm, this is right.

Again, you can't file online if the spouse doesn't have a SSN/ITIN, so you HAVE to file by paper. Filing single is not right.

[alizon 77]

No online program will allow you to file married separately/jointly. That's why you have to file by PAPER. Then you put 'NRA' in the SSN section for the spouse for MFS.

You should NOT have filed as single. You are NOT single. You are legally MARRIED. IRS agents you talked to are not familiar with cases where the spouse lives abroad.

Amend your tax return ASAP.

...

Again, you can't file online if the spouse doesn't have a SSN/ITIN, so you HAVE to file by paper. Filing single is not right.

Thanks for the back up!

[Saylin 1,605]

Thanks for the back up!

No problem. It amazes me how stupid those IRS agents can be, telling people they can file single when they're legally married. They're worse than NVC operators!!

[alizon 77]

No problem. It amazes me how stupid those IRS agents can be, telling people they can file single when they're legally married. They're worse than NVC operators!!

Yeah, I prefer to go with what's in black and white on the website. I never catch the agents/operators names and ID numbers, so if I followed their instructions and did something wrong, I would never know who to blame it on! At least with text, there's something relatively stable to point to if you get in some kind of trouble.

[Saylin 1,605]

Yeah, I prefer to go with what's in black and white on the website. I never catch the agents/operators names and ID numbers, so if I followed their instructions and did something wrong, I would never know who to blame it on! At least with text, there's something relatively stable to point to if you get in some kind of trouble.

Exactly.

Plus it's common sense. Why file single if you're married?

[alizon 77]

Exactly.

Plus it's common sense. Why file single if you're married?

Because married filing jointly takes extra work (W-7, etc.) and married filing separately gets you a smaller return than filing single.

[Saylin 1,605]

Because married filing jointly takes extra work (W-7, etc.) and married filing separately gets you a smaller return than filing single.

So, to those people, they'd rather get a bigger refund and do less work. Good luck at the interview if they see you filed single. Could be a red flag in certain countries. Not exactly the best proof of bona fide relationship. Silly people But I'm sure people have done it and not gotten caught... No way would I risk it.

[Neela & Jitu 79]

So, to those people, they'd rather get a bigger refund and do less work. Good luck at the interview if they see you filed single. Could be a red flag in certain countries. Not exactly the best proof of bona fide relationship. Silly people But I'm sure people have done it and not gotten caught... No way would I risk it.

Saylin my husband filled head of house hold coz he had dependents.He said he is gonna amend it when i come to states.(i thought he filled single but when i saw his transcript it was head of household).Will that be a problem?

[alizon 77]

Saylin my husband filled head of house hold coz he had dependents.He said he is gonna amend it when i come to states.(i thought he filled single but when i saw his transcript it was head of household).Will that be a problem?

I think that shouldn't be a problem. That's the one filing status that it's okay to be considered "unmarried" for when your spouse is a nonresident.

[Saylin 1,605]

Saylin my husband filled head of house hold coz he had dependents.He said he is gonna amend it when i come to states.(i thought he filled single but when i saw his transcript it was head of household).Will that be a problem?

HoH is fine. MFS or MFJ is better, but HoH is legal whereas filing single is not.