filling 2012 income tax

[kmg617 26]

My parents' accountant whom I'm using and has helped me through this said that you only need an ITIN to file joint and if you file joint you will have to document your spouse's income. I am filing married but separate to avoid the hassle in obtaining all of that info.

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

as long as she was married at some point during the tax year , she cannot claim 'single' anymore as that may be seen as tax fraud. she should do married filing separately as the procedure for married filing jointlyj may be long for her to purse. I am in the same boat; married sept 2012 and will be going out today or early next week to do my taxes.

as for SSN , I understamd you can NRA( non resident alien ) in that box.

Your filing status is determined by your status at the end of the year (December 31st). You can be married from January 1st thru December 30 but if your divorce becomes final on December 31st your filing status will be Single or Head of Household. Or if you have been single from January 1st through December 30th and you get married at December 31st your filing status for that year will be either Married Filing Joint for Married Filing Separate or Head of Household.

Plss what will I mail in, is a littlle bit weird. am new in the process.Thanks alot

You as the non resident alien spouse don't have to file anything unless you actually earned income in the U.S. Your U.S. Citizen spouse must file a paper return because of the limitations of tax preparation software. Most software will not let you enter "NRA" as a valid entry in the area where you enter an SSN or ITIN. So you must print out the return and write in "NRA." According to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Division the software the IRS uses to process e-file returns does allow "NRA" as a valid entry.

If you dont mind me asking? what state does your wife stay in? reason being I just came in few minutes ago from my tax preparer( past 6years). This guy sure knows his stuff and the EXACT SAME thing you mentioned above is what he told me that is why I am wondering where your wife is . He also stated I cannot file as married filing seperately since we have not lived together for six months, my husband is not here and he does not have a SSN. He also stated we cannot use 'NRA'. He said if i mail it in, IRS will not process my case, instead they will hold unto it and request that incomplete info be submitted. He said I can only file as single and then do amendment later If i want.

He even offered to call a good immigration lawyer that knws tax law so I could hear his opinion too or even IRS. I told him its not that i dnt believe him but that the Consular officer at the embassy may not knw this law he is talking about and may wonder why I claimed being single on my tax document.

At the end we decided to do an extension so at least my hubby could have something to submit for the current tax year then when he comes in we will do married filing jointly.

Your tax preparer needs to brush up on his tax law. As I stated above, if you are married at the end of the tax year your filing status options are Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, or Head of Household. Single is not a correct option.

A married person required to file a U.S. tax return and married to a non resident alien can file as Married Filing Separately and enter "NRA" in the area where you are supposed to enter your spouse's SSN or ITIN. See the top of the middle column of page 7 of IRS Publication 501 - Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

[jkelly07 120]

if your married then you file your taxes as married, it don't matter if the beneficiary don't work or lives in another country,there are several ways to do this,have your spouse go to IRS.GOV down load w-7 form and the instructions read very carefully she fulls the w-7 mails it to you with proper ID-s follow the instructions it arrives in the us he signs it w-7 date it your ID us passport and your 1040 taxes togather send it to only the address thats in the instructions austin texas, thats the only tax department that handles the intin numbers ,, the other way is get a tax extension good until oct, send in the w-7 form and wait for the itin number to put on your 1040 tax and send it in.

[Hilario 13]

If filing jointly she must send in a W-7 with both your signatures and document proving you are a non resident alien with the federal tax return, when IRS completes the tax return they will send you a ITIN. You can do a search on W-7 on their the web page IRS.gov

[Love's JAA 100]

Your filing status is determined by your status at the end of the year (December 31st). You can be married from January 1st thru December 30 but if your divorce becomes final on December 31st your filing status will be Single or Head of Household. Or if you have been single from January 1st through December 30th and you get married at December 31st your filing status for that year will be either Married Filing Joint for Married Filing Separate or Head of Household.

You as the non resident alien spouse don't have to file anything unless you actually earned income in the U.S. Your U.S. Citizen spouse must file a paper return because of the limitations of tax preparation software. Most software will not let you enter "NRA" as a valid entry in the area where you enter an SSN or ITIN. So you must print out the return and write in "NRA." According to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Division the software the IRS uses to process e-file returns does allow "NRA" as a valid entry.

The software I use to prepare returns does allow a code for "NRA". You can only use this if your spouse is not being claimed as a dependent and is not required to file a US income tax return. Otherwise he/she will need an SSN or an ITIN.

Your tax preparer needs to brush up on his tax law. As I stated above, if you are married at the end of the tax year your filing status options are Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, or Head of Household. Single is not a correct option.

A married person required to file a U.S. tax return and married to a non resident alien can file as Married Filing Separately and enter "NRA" in the area where you are supposed to enter your spouse's SSN or ITIN. See the top of the middle column of page 7 of IRS Publication 501 - Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Love's JAA

[endo 0]

If you dont mind me asking? what state does your wife stay in? reason being I just came in few minutes ago from my tax preparer( past 6years). This guy sure knows his stuff and the EXACT SAME thing you mentioned above is what he told me that is why I am wondering where your wife is . He also stated I cannot file as married filing seperately since we have not lived together for six months, my husband is not here and he does not have a SSN. He also stated we cannot use 'NRA'. He said if i mail it in, IRS will not process my case, instead they will hold unto it and request that incomplete info be submitted. He said I can only file as single and then do amendment later If i want.

He even offered to call a good immigration lawyer that knws tax law so I could hear his opinion too or even IRS. I told him its not that i dnt believe him but that the Consular officer at the embassy may not knw this law he is talking about and may wonder why I claimed being single on my tax document.

At the end we decided to do an extension so at least my hubby could have something to submit for the current tax year then when he comes in we will do married filing jointly.

My wife lives at houston,Plss how can she go about the amendment thing? is she to contact irs for the amendment or ?

Pls I need your advice.Thanks alot

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

The software I use to prepare returns does allow a code for "NRA". You can only use this if your spouse is not being claimed as a dependent and is not required to file a US income tax return. Otherwise he/she will need an SSN or an ITIN.

It is good to know that there is software that allows you to do that. Which software package do you use? In the past several people on these Forums have stated that it is ok to file as single when you are married and then amend your return when your spouse gets to the U.S. and gets an SSN. Their rationale for doing this was that they could not e-file if they filed as Married Filing Separately and had to put "NRA" as their spouses identification number. I finally submitted this problem to the National Taxpayer Advocates office and I was told that the software that the IRS uses to process e-file returns does allow "NRA" as a valid entry for the non resident alien spouse's identification number when filing as Married Filing Separately.

[samy + janet aly 9]

i know i have been married since 2010 and i have missed 2 tax returns filings where i had to claim as single since my husband has no SSN yet and he is not here yet.

a taxpayer id number are for ones who do not qualify for a ssn yet.

puts us in a pickle, since an i130 petttion you can check for your spouse to get a ssn and we are in the middle of a mess with one, i am still checking to see if i can get a ITIN for him so i can claim married filing jointly.

[The Mean Lady 604]

.........

Edited March 10, 2013 by KDH

[ndu26 114]

Your filing status is determined by your status at the end of the year (December 31st). You can be married from January 1st thru December 30 but if your divorce becomes final on December 31st your filing status will be Single or Head of Household. Or if you have been single from January 1st through December 30th and you get married at December 31st your filing status for that year will be either Married Filing Joint for Married Filing Separate or Head of Household.

You as the non resident alien spouse don't have to file anything unless you actually earned income in the U.S. Your U.S. Citizen spouse must file a paper return because of the limitations of tax preparation software. Most software will not let you enter "NRA" as a valid entry in the area where you enter an SSN or ITIN. So you must print out the return and write in "NRA." According to the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate Division the software the IRS uses to process e-file returns does allow "NRA" as a valid entry.

Your tax preparer needs to brush up on his tax law. As I stated above, if you are married at the end of the tax year your filing status options are Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, or Head of Household. Single is not a correct option.

A married person required to file a U.S. tax return and married to a non resident alien can file as Married Filing Separately and enter "NRA" in the area where you are supposed to enter your spouse's SSN or ITIN. See the top of the middle column of page 7 of IRS Publication 501 - Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

yes I came home that day and went researching on IRS website. Definitely setting him straight tomorrow :bonk: . We will wait to do the joint thing do as it will give us more return.

[shefe 6]

This topic worries me now because I am married but my wife in Nigeria don't have an SSN so my tax preparer filed for me as Head of household

[The Mean Lady 604]

This topic worries me now because I am married but my wife in Nigeria don't have an SSN so my tax preparer filed for me as Head of household

If you don't have kids, you aren't HoH

[dwheels76 5,468]

This topic worries me now because I am married but my wife in Nigeria don't have an SSN so my tax preparer filed for me as Head of household

It utterly amazes me how vapidly ignorant these tax preparers are. My God its like dealing with USCIS and NVC operators.

You must have dependents (and your spouse doesn't count as one) to file Head of Household. Do you have dependents?

No SS# or ITIN no problem file Married filing separate. It's easy painless and the cool transcripts come in both your names (Good evidence by the way of co-minging of finances). You can amend back what 5 years when they get here and get SS#.

Someone on VJ just reported how they owed $10000 to IRS. When wife got here he amended 5 years of taxes got back $15000. Pretty cool.

I am sure the embassy knows we don't know and you can explain. The issue you have is filing a Head of Household and getting a credit you weren't suppose to.

[shefe 6]

I explained the situation and he kept on saying that since my wife dont have SSN then i cant file with her and i cant file as married so what i ended up doing was file as head of household using 2 dependents that are my relations but not my kids.

[The Mean Lady 604]

I explained the situation and he kept on saying that since my wife dont have SSN then i cant file with her and i cant file as married so what i ended up doing was file as head of household using 2 dependents that are my relations but not my kids.

are they really your dependants or did you commit tax fraud to make up for your wife?