Income tax return issues...urgent advice needed plz

[franklinadamau 8]

Guys please I need your help urgently.

My wife a green card holder is petitioning for me and we got married in our home country.

I've never travelled to the United States.

My petition has been approved and sent to NVC.

She was about filling for her income tax return weeks ago and I then told her she need to change her status to married in the form because i felt it wont make sense of me taking the income tax return form to the embassy during interview and her status will reflect that she's single.

We got married January last year

Guys please i'm I right or wrong here?

Heres where the problem starts

She went to process and income tax return today hoping to be successful for her to be reimbursed as usual but the agent told her she won't be reimburse because she filled in her form that shes married and her husband(me) is not resident of the US.

She was hoping to be reimburse over 3000USD and now shes blaming me.

Im really feeling confused and guilty about it...Perhaps she would have filled the form as single

My second question is; during my visa interview, would the embassy accept her income tax return reflecting single when she married to me?

Urgently help needed plz

[Dohan 133]

You're married, the only options for her filing is 1) married filing jointly 2) married filing separately. It does not matter where you are, once you are married, she has to file as married. Obviously at the interview you need to show that she filed her taxes as married.

[franklinadamau 8]

You're married, the only options for her filing is 1) married filing jointly 2) married filing separately. It does not matter where you are, once you are married, she has to file as married. Obviously at the interview you need to show that she filed her taxes as married.

Thanks alot for your response.

I don't really know much about this tax return issue...

But.. Since I've never been to the United States, Which is advisable for her to file. Jointly or separately?

[tsabbas 47]

Does she have dependents and is hoping to get the earned income credit (EIC)? It may be possible for her to file as "Head of Household". It would allow her a higher exemption and opportunity for the EIC. This is from the IRS site:

Nonresident alien spouse. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

[franklinadamau 8]

Does she have dependents and is hoping to get the earned income credit (EIC)? It may be possible for her to file as "Head of Household". It would allow her a higher exemption and opportunity for the EIC. This is from the IRS site:

Nonresident alien spouse. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

Thanks... She actually stays with two of her siblings and a niece. They share the financial responsibility of the house.

Does that mean she should have filled as SINGLE

[tsabbas 47]

It is potentially possible. Here is the link to what qualifies as Head of Household with a non-resident alien spouse. She should read it and see.

If she can file that way, it would not be as "single". There is an option on the tax form for "head of household".

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U.S.-Citizens-and-Resident-Aliens-Abroad---Head-of-Household

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Who claims the niece as a dependent on their taxes ? Probably one of the siblings. So she is NOT head of household. She needs to file for an IITN number for you If you made little money you can file jointly and you have to report your world wide income. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Taxpayer-Identification-Numbers-(TIN) Read this it is helpful https://americansabroad.org/issues/taxation/us-tax-implications-of-a-non-american-spouse/

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

Who claims the niece as a dependent on their taxes ? Probably one of the siblings. So she is NOT head of household. She needs to file for an IITN number for you If you made little money you can file jointly and you have to report your world wide income. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Taxpayer-Identification-Numbers-(TIN) Read this it is helpful https://americansabroad.org/issues/taxation/us-tax-implications-of-a-non-american-spouse/

i'd say

[franklinadamau 8]

Who claims the niece as a dependent on their taxes ? Probably one of the siblings. So she is NOT head of household. She needs to file for an IITN number for you If you made little money you can file jointly and you have to report your world wide income. http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Taxpayer-Identification-Numbers-(TIN) Read this it is helpful https://americansabroad.org/issues/taxation/us-tax-implications-of-a-non-american-spouse/

Her younger sister is the mother of the niece. I think her younger sister has filled for her tax return and must have definitely put her daughter as a dependent.

My wife carries majority of the financial responsibilities, can she still file and make her sisters daughter her dependent?

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Only one person can claim someone as a dependent if the sister already has then your wife can't. Did you read the material in the second link.

[franklinadamau 8]

Only one person can claim someone as a dependent if the sister already has then your wife can't. Did you read the material in the second link.

Yeah I read it. But still have a question though. Thanks

I think going through joint married with spouse living abroad will be too cumbersome

So my question is what's the benefit of the quote below

"If you file as married, separate AND your spouse has no income from sources within the US AND is not claimed as a dependent of another US taxpayer, you CAN claim an exemption for your NRA spouse (See IRS Publication 17). You need to be sure to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification number for your spouse before filing the return."

If there's no benefit we can easily write NRA

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

Yes she needs to get the ITIN for you and files claiming you as a exemption.

[Ning 619]

Yeah I read it. But still have a question though. Thanks

I think going through joint married with spouse living abroad will be too cumbersome

So my question is what's the benefit of the quote below

"If you file as married, separate AND your spouse has no income from sources within the US AND is not claimed as a dependent of another US taxpayer, you CAN claim an exemption for your NRA spouse (See IRS Publication 17). You need to be sure to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification number for your spouse before filing the return."

If there's no benefit we can easily write NRA

Nothing wrong with your questions or wanting to be involved but you are trying to make sense of the American tax laws having spent no time studying them.

Begin with obtaining the ITN number. During the wait there is time to figure out taxes.

[cocolucho 35]

Guys please I need your help urgently.

My wife a green card holder is petitioning for me and we got married in our home country.

I've never travelled to the United States.

My petition has been approved and sent to NVC.

She was about filling for her income tax return weeks ago and I then told her she need to change her status to married in the form because i felt it wont make sense of me taking the income tax return form to the embassy during interview and her status will reflect that she's single.

We got married January last year

Guys please i'm I right or wrong here?

I don't think you were wrong telling her that since you two are married and she has to file her taxes as married( "filing jointly" or "filing separtely")

Heres where the problem starts

She went to process and income tax return today hoping to be successful for her to be reimbursed as usual but the agent told her she won't be reimburse because she filled in her form that shes married and her husband(me) is not resident of the US.

Maybe the agent she saw is not familiar with taxes when the spouse is not living in the US and does not have a SSN or ITIN. I had exactly the same situation as you had, but I finally went to someone who knew about this and she suggested I file "married filing separately" and later on once my spouse obtains a SSN and she is living here in the US, we can re-file our tax returns as "married filing jointly" (there is a window of 3 years that you can re-file and adjust your tax return). Also the advantage of filing "married filing separately" is that your wife does not have to obtain an ITIN number for you right now. She wont be able to claim you as a dependent or get a deduction for you, but you can get this fix once you are in the US and you have a SSN and you both can re-file the taxes within the 3 year window. This is what I understood from my tax advisor.

She was hoping to be reimburse over 3000USD and now shes blaming me.

Im really feeling confused and guilty about it...Perhaps she would have filled the form as single

Not a good idea to file as single as she is married and should file as such.

My second question is; during my visa interview, would the embassy accept her income tax return reflecting single when she married to me?

There has been posts here on VJ that some people show their tax documents and were okay showing single, but is not the correct way to do it. Some other people were caught doing that and it delay their cases longer and where in AP until they could fix the problem. You both are married and she should be filing as married (jointly or separately) to avoid further delays that can arise from not doing it correctly.

Urgently help needed plz

She should seek a tax agent who is familiar with this. I used H&R block, and not all agents were familiar with this process of filing and I had to go to a different office, so my advise is for your wife to find someone familiar with this.

If she used a tax calculator online thinking she could claim you as a dependent and get a 3000 USD reimbursement, that could be the problem.

In order for her to claim you as a dependant, you have to file jointly and you have to have documents (ITIN) etc in order to file together. Otherwise if she files married filing separately she would not get the deduction for you.

I AM NOT A TAX ADVISOR ;-), I am just guessing your circunstances why she may think she should expect a reimbursement of 3000 USD on her return.

Get proffesional help how to propertly file your taxes, otherwise it can get messy.

Good luck to both of you!!!

Edited February 11, 2015 by cocolucho

[franklinadamau 8]

Thanks.... Well explained.

Funny enough after trying to fill as joint married without success the agent then advised her to file as single which she did.

I just spoke to my wife explaining every to her and she said she'll have to look for another agent and correct the mistake before April 15th.

Thanks alot