Tax Question

[Luvmytater 88]

I am about to file my taxes and was curious how I should go about it. since my husband does not have a SS# my only option is filing "married filing separate" or "head of household." well filing "Head of household" gives me 4x the refund but it wont show his name on the filing is that OK? Or is there something that I don't know about?

Thank you in advance for your replies

[Tabwee 0]

You have to get an itin number for him and you can get more from the refund. He will have to get you a notarized copy of his passport from the Nigerian passport office and you'll use it to get the itin number from the irs ..

[Luvmytater 88]

You have to get an itin number for him and you can get more from the refund. He will have to get you a notarized copy of his passport from the Nigerian passport office and you'll use it to get the itin number from the irs ..

Thank you for your reply. I thought of that option as well but it will take too much time. I have some personal things that need to be taken care on by the end of next month so I don't think that could be an option since he would have to travel many hours to the passport office and that would take more time and money that we don't have right now.

Edited January 26, 2014 by Luvmytater

[JA_Martinez 81]

Be careful, its not the cut and dried...if you include him in your taxes filng head of household and get him an itin # you will have to include his foreign income.

[Luvmytater 88]

Be careful, its not the cut and dried...if you include him in your taxes filng head of household and get him an itin # you will have to include his foreign income.

he does not have any verifiable income at this time because he is working for his mother. So I don't even know if that could be included

[NikLR 13,232]

Are you sure you qualify for head of household? You need to have another dependent besides the beneficiary to file this way, like a child.

[Luvmytater 88]

Are you sure you qualify for head of household? You need to have another dependent besides the beneficiary to file this way, like a child.

Yes I have kids

[dwheels76 5,476]

I am about to file my taxes and was curious how I should go about it. since my husband does not have a SS# my only option is filing "married filing separate" or "head of household." well filing "Head of household" gives me 4x the refund but it wont show his name on the filing is that OK? Or is there something that I don't know about?

Thank you in advance for your replies

I know of some women with children who were in same situation no SS# or ITIN and filed HOH and had no issue. You just can't file electronically. Just like MFS you can do it all through online but will have to print and mail in.. Because of the empty SS# it won't allow the electronic.

So that's an option also.

[Luvmytater 88]

Ok thank you for your reply

[LoveMyTico 999]

I filed head of household. My husband is not here yet and the USCIS understands that. He did NOT live here so why include him?. Getting the ITIN number is a pain in the A$$. Takes too much time. PLUS, I don't want to go through all that ####### with having to claim his income. He only worked in the city for 4 months but its still income. Next year we will file jointly and we will have that tax return to show when we clear conditions. Don't go crazy over taxes.

[livindadream 156]

he does not have any verifiable income at this time because he is working for his mother. So I don't even know if that could be included

That is income to the IRS, verifiable or not. They would want to know about it. Just like if you were working as a babysitter for your sister's kids and getting paid cash, they would want to know about it

Edited January 26, 2014 by AYOsGirl

[Kaylara 814]

They don't need to know about his income because he's currently not in the US or a US Citizen. So it's entirely optional whether or not you claim his wages, but you will have to pay taxes on them too.

My suggestion here is that you *are* the head of household, so you can file as that.

You can also file married filing separately without an ITIN #. You just put in the part where it asks for name: Spouses' name and 'NRA' (that means Non-resident Alien.) If you want, after he's here you can go back and amend it as long as you're within the timeframe the IRS gives you to amend them.

[TimandAna 37]

I think you should not file. Instead send a letter that says "When the government fixes immigration so you can be reunited with your family in a timely manor. You will pay taxes."

[No name 88 48]

I've just been looking into the ITIN and they no longer accept a notarized passport. Only a government certified copy or the original passport and they send it back 60 days later. Also you can send in two notarized copies of foreign documents instead of the passport which makes no sense.

[Ryan H 3,834]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Progress Reports to General Immigration-Related Discussion; topic is about filing taxes and not a case status update.