Taxes and foreign income and filing electronically

[PhillyJon 2]

I got married in 2012 and filed 2012 taxes jointly, married. My wife was in China so we included a letter a letter saying were were treating her as a resident for 2012. Now 2013 tax year rolls around. She was in China for all of 2013 so we will again treat her as a resident. It's my understanding that we don't need to include a letter the second time around and can file electronically. Is this correct? It'll save me the hassle of hooking up the printer and driving to the post office at 11:59 if so.

[Ryan H 3,812]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Tax & Finances During US Immigration forum.

[CarlosAndSveta 808]

I got married in 2012 and filed 2012 taxes jointly, married. My wife was in China so we included a letter a letter saying were were treating her as a resident for 2012. Now 2013 tax year rolls around. She was in China for all of 2013 so we will again treat her as a resident. It's my understanding that we don't need to include a letter the second time around and can file electronically. Is this correct? It'll save me the hassle of hooking up the printer and driving to the post office at 11:59 if so.

That is true. No need for another election statement.

[Darnell 8,478]

I got married in 2012 and filed 2012 taxes jointly, married. My wife was in China so we included a letter a letter saying were were treating her as a resident for 2012. Now 2013 tax year rolls around. She was in China for all of 2013 so we will again treat her as a resident. It's my understanding that we don't need to include a letter the second time around and can file electronically. Is this correct? It'll save me the hassle of hooking up the printer and driving to the post office at 11:59 if so.

That's correct.

My wife and I did this for 2 years after the first year of paperfiling, using her ITIN that was generated in that first year.

Might have some hassle if trying to use her SSN for the first time, first year filing, depends on the service bureau handling your stuff.

[Rich and Wen 101]

My tax program would not allow me to file electronically with a foreign earnings statement. There is no EIN (Employer ID Number), so no electronic filing. I still have not filed.

I am debating whether to omit her income, file electronically, then amend later.

[RandyW 149]

My tax program would not allow me to file electronically with a foreign earnings statement. There is no EIN (Employer ID Number), so no electronic filing. I still have not filed.

I am debating whether to omit her income, file electronically, then amend later.

If you want to try this . . . enter all zero's for the EIN.

[Rich and Wen 101]

Thanks for the suggestion....Didn't work, though. "The first 2 digits are not on the IRS' list of approved EIN numbers. Please see Publication 1645 for more details"

And even if I could have gotten through that, the state and zip code would have tripped me up.

I'm filing manually, sending it today, resigned to waiting for our refund until June 1 at the earliest....