Wife's tax return/refund

[pmarshall 9]

Hi all.

OK I moved to the us in June 2014, got married to my wife in august 2014.

I'm currently in aos.

My wife is currently doing her tax return but we are lost on turbotax site, do we file married joint or married seperatlely.

I've read we can file joint but they will need my income from the UK for last year ??

Can anyone shed any light on the subject ??

Thank you

[Jon and Krissy 452]

Hi all.

OK I moved to the us in June 2014, got married to my wife in august 2014.

I'm currently in aos.

My wife is currently doing her tax return but we are lost on turbotax site, do we file married joint or married seperatlely.

I've read we can file joint but they will need my income from the UK for last year ??

Can anyone shed any light on the subject ??

Thank you

Yeah, you can file jointly. Likely to be more advantageous to do it that way.

I don't think the U.S. cares about income you made before coming here, I could be wrong though....

[pmarshall 9]

Turbo tax asked if your spouse lived out of the us for part of the year do we say yes or no ??

[pmarshall 9]

Yeah, you can file jointly. Likely to be more advantageous to do it that way.

I don't think the U.S. cares about income you made before coming here, I could be wrong though....

It looks like if we file married joint I will be classed as a resident for the entire 2014, meaning I have to declare my UK earnings for the first half of 2014.

Damn this is hard !!!

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Hi all.

OK I moved to the us in June 2014, got married to my wife in august 2014.

I'm currently in aos.

My wife is currently doing her tax return but we are lost on turbotax site, do we file married joint or married seperatlely.

I've read we can file joint but they will need my income from the UK for last year ??

Can anyone shed any light on the subject ??

Thank you

First of all, TurboTax isn't going to teach you all the tax code. You may need to read information from Publication 519 to understand this first year in the US. That will help you know if you are answering your TurboTax questions correctly.

If you earned no income in the US, then you have nothing to report, and your wife could file Married Filing Separately. But normally a joint return will be a better deal.

If a married couple files a joint return, then the 2014 income for EACH of them is reported. That is worldwide income, meaning earned anywhere in the world. I don't have 2014 TurboTax, but in the past the section called Less Common Income has the place to enter Foreign Income (converted the US dollars). Make sure the UK income appears in Line 7 of the 1040 along with the US person's wages. They are lumped together. Forms view allows you to see your 1040.

Then once the foreign income is entered, use the Foreign Income Exclusion Form 2555 because your UK income qualifies for the exclusion because you were a bonafide resident of the UK. Form 1040 line 21 (called Other Income) then shows the UK money as a negative number, subtracted out to reduce the total income.

Make sure you enter the foreign first before you try to exclude it or you confuse TurboTax.

Publication 519 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

See page 9 near the bottom of the first column Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident

Continue to the middle column. That is where it tells you about worldwide income.

Once you make the choice to be treated as a resident for the purpose of taxes, then you are considered a resident for all of 2014 (to the IRS) and anything that Pub 519 says about part year or dual status alien no longer applies to you. Column 2 tells you that.

[pmarshall 9]

First of all, TurboTax isn't going to teach you all the tax code. You may need to read information from Publication 519 to understand this first year in the US. That will help you know if you are answering your TurboTax questions correctly.

If you earned no income in the US, then you have nothing to report, and your wife could file Married Filing Separately. But normally a joint return will be a better deal.

If a married couple files a joint return, then the 2014 income for EACH of them is reported. That is worldwide income, meaning earned anywhere in the world. I don't have 2014 TurboTax, but in the past the section called Less Common Income has the place to enter Foreign Income (converted the US dollars). Make sure the UK income appears in Line 7 of the 1040 along with the US person's wages. They are lumped together. Forms view allows you to see your 1040.

Then once the foreign income is entered, use the Foreign Income Exclusion Form 2555 because your UK income qualifies for the exclusion because you were a bonafide resident of the UK. Form 1040 line 21 (called Other Income) then shows the UK money as a negative number, subtracted out to reduce the total income.

Make sure you enter the foreign first before you try to exclude it or you confuse TurboTax.

Publication 519 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

See page 9 near the bottom of the first column Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident

Continue to the middle column. That is where it tells you about worldwide income.

Once you make the choice to be treated as a resident for the purpose of taxes, then you are considered a resident for all of 2014 (to the IRS) and anything that Pub 519 says about part year or dual status alien no longer applies to you. Column 2 tells you that.

Nick

Once again thank you very much

Paul

[NikLR 13,227]

~~moved to taxes and finances from moving to the USA~~