Is our foreign marriage considered "legal" and "official" here in the USA?

[trojam227 18]

For IRS purposes all they care is that you provide a SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER for your wife which you obviously don't have yet. Your foreign marriage is valid in the US of course but for US Tax purposes filing as "Married but separately" is correct.

And for everyone else advising about taxes get your facts straight before you start posting non-sense that you don't even have a clue about. i.e. You can start by reading the Internal Revenue Code

That's not entirely true. You can apply for an ITIN# for a resident/non-resident alien

spouse/dependent with the IRS in order to file a tax return...you don't need a SS# to file a tax return.

Married filing Jointly, Married Filing Seperately, and Head of Household (in some cases) are all appropriate filing status' with our overseas spouses.

[trojam227 18]

I wonder cos I have been filing as head of household cos my husband does not have a social security card and has never been here. I was told that i can't file him as a dependent of mine cos he did not live with me during the year. You lost a lot of money by filing "married filing separate. I hope this will not be a problem when he goes for his interview, cos all my w-2 forms have my maiden name.

It's OK to file as Head of Household if you have dependents, have paid more than half the cost of keeping up your main home during the year, and your spouse has not lived with you for more than 6 mos out of the year.

A Spouse is never considered a dependent of yours whether a resident or non-resident, but by filing jointly you are taxed at the lowest rate with more of a tax break.

[Kehinde 45]

I believe I heard once that one can't claim their spouse as a dependent.

It's two completely different things or something. I could be wrong.

I have 2 friends that are house wives and they don't work, so their husbands claim them as a dependent. You cam claim anybody as a dependent if you are taking care of that person. Even an elderly grandma.

[Darnell 8,478]

I'm asking because I am filling out a form W-4 for a new job that I just got. Someone told me that I should file as "Single" because there is no official document stating that my marriage is "official" in the USA.

For my 2011 Income Tax Return, I filed "Married filing separately"

Fun tax stuff. Here's a short list (from me to you)

1. tick 'married' on the w-4

2. When next you want to file a tax return, if she's not in USA by that time, file a W-7 with a 1040 set, all via paper, to the special ITIN address in Austin Texas. Choose 'married filing jointly' on the USA Income Tax form.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I have 2 friends that are house wives and they don't work, so their husbands claim them as a dependent. You cam claim anybody as a dependent if you are taking care of that person. Even an elderly grandma.

No they don't. A spouse is NEVER a dependent. Please see this post here: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/361550-itin-or-ss/page__p__5281818#entry5281818 which links the IRS documents stating exactly that, a spouse is NEVER a dependent. They are simply able to get more exemptions, it's not the same thing.

I believe I heard once that one can't claim their spouse as a dependent.

It's two completely different things or something. I could be wrong.

Nope you're correct. A spouse is NEVER a dependent.

Edited May 27, 2012 by Vanessa&Tony

[VanessaTony 3,567]

I'm asking because I am filling out a form W-4 for a new job that I just got. Someone told me that I should file as "Single" because there is no official document stating that my marriage is "official" in the USA.

For my 2011 Income Tax Return, I filed "Married filing separately"

You are married. Anywhere it asks for you MARITAL status, you put married. If it asks for FILING status it typically wants a number. 0 for single. 1 for married etc with 0 being taxed at a higher rate than 1. My filing status is single (0) so that I am taxed at the highest rate. We don't like paying tax back at tax time, we prefer refunds (who doesn't!) and this works for us We both put "0" at our employers.

[Brian121957 43]

We don't like paying tax back at tax time, we prefer refunds (who doesn't!) and this works for us We both put "0" at our employers.

I have a refund program you may like. Your federal and state tax refund comes back to you around Feb or March and you have to fill out complex forms to get it.

How about getting another big refund in late November in time for Christmas. Just direct deposit a portion of your paycheck to me. It will be painless just like your tax withholdings. Then in November I will send you a refund of all your payments (less a nominal processing fee) in the form of a prepaid credit cards. You can go out on fantastic Christmas shopping sprees or if you prefer just give out the credit cards as gifts. If you select the executive option of $50 or more per week I will even include personalized greeting cards to go with the prepaid credit cards.