Filing IRS taxes for 2013

[Warren and Vivian 10]

Does anyone know of a guide on how to fill out the tax returns for a US citizen who married their spouse who used a K-1 visa? Any help would be appreciated.

What forms are needed?

[dwheels76 5,468]

Does anyone know of a guide on how to fill out the tax returns for a US citizen who married their spouse who used a K-1 visa? Any help would be appreciated.

What forms are needed?

There's no guide you are married so you file either Married Jointly (I would imagine best tax break) or Married separately (thats what most file for spouses still abroad). K1 has nothing to do with it. You married in the calendar year even if it was 12/31/13 you are married for 2013 tax season.

[Pitaya 2,577]

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf

[Dave&Roza 748]

Does anyone know of a guide on how to fill out the tax returns for a US citizen who married their spouse who used a K-1 visa? Any help would be appreciated.

What forms are needed?

You, unfortunately, need to go to the IRS website and research filing taxes when you earn income in a foreign country. As stated above, you are married and can file jointly or separately. You can also have the foreign spouse considered a lawful permanent resident for the entire tax year for TAX purposes or you can decide to claim the foreign income tax credit. There are many different ways to handle this and each has its own benefits to your tax situation. For us, we got married on 12/30 and it was a better option to claim my wife's income and take her standard deduction so we wrote the letter and signed it stating that we wanted her to be considered a LPR for the entire year for TAX purposes. That gave me the best tax advantage over the other options. Just remember that due to the government shutdown, the earliest you can file for 2013 is January 30th I believe.

Good luck,

Dave

[Warren and Vivian 10]

You, unfortunately, need to go to the IRS website and research filing taxes when you earn income in a foreign country. As stated above, you are married and can file jointly or separately. You can also have the foreign spouse considered a lawful permanent resident for the entire tax year for TAX purposes or you can decide to claim the foreign income tax credit. There are many different ways to handle this and each has its own benefits to your tax situation. For us, we got married on 12/30 and it was a better option to claim my wife's income and take her standard deduction so we wrote the letter and signed it stating that we wanted her to be considered a LPR for the entire year for TAX purposes. That gave me the best tax advantage over the other options. Just remember that due to the government shutdown, the earliest you can file for 2013 is January 30th I believe.

Good luck,

Dave

Thanks Dave - I was hoping there was a guide on 'best practices' when filing taxes for people in our situation. I'm sure the HR Block and other tax agencies in the area don't have much experiece in this so I don't want to waste my time with them.

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

IRS info about nonresident spouse being treated as resident for taxes > http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Nonresident-Spouse-Treated-as-a-Resident

~ Moved from AOS from Family Based Visas to Moving Here and Your New Life in America - topic is not about AOS process ~