Tax help for US taxes - need help.

[Buxi&Dusk 6]

Hi everyone,

I know SO last minute - sorry - but I thought I had it and now I'm confused again. . Jeez, taxes are not my strong suit. I called the IRS hotline today to figure out if I have to file a return, they told me to do research and gave me publications to read, which I have and I'm still confused. Also confused as wether to use my SSN or not or if I need a tax number.

Situtation: I came to the US on a K-1 visa in November 18 of 2013 and got married. Applied for AOS in January. All of my income is from Canada, I have no income in the US. I have an SSN with the note of Vaild for work only with DHS authorization.

My husband filed his taxes as married filing seperately and we put my SSN number on his forms, we initally did a joint return and then amended it. I was thinking of filing an extension. I noticed there are two filing dates as well, today and one in June.

Do I file a 1040NR? I'm so lost. Have we completely done our taxes wrong? Do I need a tax number?

Thank you so much in advance for help. I'm completely stressed about this!

[JohnR! 5,495]

Hi everyone,

I know SO last minute - sorry - but I thought I had it and now I'm confused again. . Jeez, taxes are not my strong suit. I called the IRS hotline today to figure out if I have to file a return, they told me to do research and gave me publications to read, which I have and I'm still confused. Also confused as wether to use my SSN or not or if I need a tax number.

Situtation: I came to the US on a K-1 visa in November 18 of 2013 and got married. Applied for AOS in January. All of my income is from Canada, I have no income in the US. I have an SSN with the note of Vaild for work only with DHS authorization.

My husband filed his taxes as married filing seperately and we put my SSN number on his forms, we initally did a joint return and then amended it. I was thinking of filing an extension. I noticed there are two filing dates as well, today and one in June.

Do I file a 1040NR? I'm so lost. Have we completely done our taxes wrong? Do I need a tax number?

Thank you so much in advance for help. I'm completely stressed about this!

If you have decided that MFS is the best option for you, then you have to file your own taxes as such. If you are not well versed in US taxes, consider using an online product such as TurboTax or similar. It is much easier than trying to figure it all out on your own and it will guide you through your foreign income. You only use the 1040NR if you were a non-resident, but it seems you do want to file US taxes, in which case you would file using the regular form 1040.

I also believe you might wish to consider checking whether you need to file US taxes at all, since you only started yoru AOS this year and your husband did not include your income in his taxes - which put him at a higher bracket anyways.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Gegel

[Rob & Monika 87]

From what I understood from the advice I got on the serbinski forums, MFS you only are taxed on your income from the day you became a resident. MFJ you would have to claim the entire years income.

Your SSN is your tax ID.

If you liquidated all assets before moving and moved all of your finances down and had no income, you likely won't need to file. If you currently have financial assets in Canada over a certain value, you will have to report those. Your income on any TSFA's and RRSP's are taxable in the US, and the TSFA's accounts will have to be reported. Additionally...(as if it wasn't complicated enough already) there is something called FBAR (Foreign bank account reporting??). If you have over 10k in financial assets in Canada after the day you moved, you have to report that on a seperate electronic form which is due June 30th.

Swing over to http://forums.serbinski.com/ and skim over the Q&As there, that might help.

Also, did you file your Deemed Dispositions on your Candian return?

Edited April 14, 2014 by Rob & Monika

[Buxi&Dusk 6]

Thanks, Gegel. I don't want to file if I don't have too. I tried checking this morning if I needed to file at all and called the IRS hotline, and they could not give me an answer. I've been reading the guide for Aliens publication and from as far as I can figure out, I don't meet the substanial presence test and I don't have a green card. With that, I thought I would be considered as a non-resident for tax purposes which is why I am filling out the 1040 NR.

Rob & Monika, thanks for the links for the forum! I will go and read there. I haven't started Canadian taxes, I knew the due date for US was sooner, so I thought to get those done first. I still have a bank account in Canada and bills that I pay with that account. I had a house in Canada too at the end of 2013, it sold this month. (Finally!) I have a pension plan, which I was going to report, even though I can't touch it and I've put no money into it, all contributions to that plan were from my previous employer.

[Buxi&Dusk 6]

Oh and I filed an extension today as well, via efile with turbo tax.