taxes

[doodlebug 3]

For those of you who are married, and your hubby is not yet in the country, how do you file? Do you have to claim his income? You wouldn't , right,...since he's not a US resident?

[ya falaha! 0]

Next year I'm still filing single. I'm doubting Mohamed will be here before next year so he won't even have a SS number to use on the tax forms.

[doodlebug 3]

Ok I found the answer here:

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. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

So basically you can still file head-of-household (assuming that is what you've been doing in previous years and you are qualified to do so) even if he does arrive anytime in the year so long as it was not a full year I guess. I don't know why you'd elect to treat him as a resident alien for tax purposes since you'd miss out on the huge head of household deduction, unless it's a visa thing where they'd use that against you somehow.

[ya falaha! 0]

That's good info..thanks! I'm HIGHLY doubting he'll be here this year so no worries..I'll file single again.

[doodlebug 3]

That's good info..thanks! I'm HIGHLY doubting he'll be here this year so no worries..I'll file single again.

You should look into filing head of household since it's a bigger deduction.

[UmmSqueakster 54]

We had a major headache with our 2005 taxes. We did file married filing jointly in the end, since that worked out better for us, since my other option was married filing singly. One of the reasons we even chose to include him on the taxes at all is because the returns are evidence you can use at your AOS (adjustment of status) interview.

It's lots of fun, since Egypt doesn't issue anything like a W-2 (at least not to most people), so there's really no proof of income earned abroad.

Let me introduce you to your new best friend - Publication 519

Edited October 5, 2006 by rahma

[Henia 11]

Can only file for people legally married with spouses living legally in the US...

[sarachid 0]

so what if they worked 2006 on the temp work auth... you would have to claim that money on taxes... correct??

[UmmSqueakster 54]

so what if they worked 2006 on the temp work auth... you would have to claim that money on taxes... correct??

I'm no tax expert, but if I remember correctly, you must claim that money on taxes and you should also claim any money made back home as well.

Howeva, check the publication 519 for all the correct info.