Income tax return issues...urgent advice needed plz

[Pitaya 2,577]

~Moved from Bringing Fam. Member of Perm.Res. to America to Tax & Finances During US Immigration Forum~

~Inquiry about income tax filing~

[cocolucho 35]

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

You are welcome!

I am glad you talked to your wife about it. It is funny that the agent told her that, but it only shows he/she doesn't know well how to file taxes. I hope you guys find someone competent that can help your wife and correct the mistake :-)

Best of luck to you ;-)

[ekim 10]

If you want to file Married Filing Jointly, both of you need to have an SSN or you need an ITIN. I believe it requires to send your passport to request an ITIN (Not sure about the process of filing ITIN)

or your spouse can file Married Filing Separately. The deductions are almost similar to Single. Then, you can adjust the filing status (within 3 years) to Married Filing Jointly once you are here in the US and get the necessary refund. Tax filing adjustments may take up to 12 weeks.

What I did last year is to file Married Filing Separately then made an adjustment to Married Filing Jointly when my spouse arrived and got my refund. Another thing I found out is if your spouse don't owe any taxes and you are expected to arrive soon, your spouse can delay the filing without paying any penalty. Then once you are here and have your SSN, both of you can file jointly.

[mari09 0]

Hi how did you filed married filling separate? Because i had the same issues and the person who did my taxes told me that when you filed as married they need your spouse Social security in order to done it correctly. What ss did you put for your spouse if she or he it's not here?

[SShah 0]

I filed as Single on my 2013 Tax Return ( i got married in October of 2013). After speaking with the IRS, Immigration Lawyer & a CPA i filed as single.

You do have to file for an amendment to your tax return once your spouse arrives in the country and is granted a SSN.

So once my wife arrives in a day or so and the SSN gets issued i will file and amendment to my taxes for 2013 and file my 2014 as married.

Immigration did not hassle me one bit or my spouse as to why "I" filed as single. You cannot file as married in this country unless your spouse has a ITIN number or SSN.

Thanks,

[franklinadamau 8]

Hi how did you filed married filling separate? Because i had the same issues and the person who did my taxes told me that when you filed as married they need your spouse Social security in order to done it correctly. What ss did you put for your spouse if she or he it's not here?

It's so sad that some of these agents don't know much about this issue.

What you'll actually do is file as "married filing separtely." In the section where SSN is asked for NRA will be inserted. NRA means Non Resident Alien

[yannix 24]

 

It's so sad that some of these agents don't know much about this issue.

What you'll actually do is file as "married filing separtely." In the section where SSN is asked for NRA will be inserted. NRA means Non Resident Alien

Because most agents just want to make a quick buck. They advise their clients to take the route which is easier for them (the agents). Filing separately-NRA or filing jointly-requesting-ITIN is a pain. E-filing is out of the question for either option (not sure if it's still true for 2014).

[ekim 10]

It's so sad that some of these agents don't know much about this issue.

What you'll actually do is file as "married filing separtely." In the section where SSN is asked for NRA will be inserted. NRA means Non Resident Alien

This. And as mentioned by yannix , you can not e-file. Need to mail the forms to the state comptrollers and IRS.

[Moustafa/Crystal 65]

I suggest that she files married filing separately. Put NRA for your social security number. When you get your social security number, she can amend her taxes. You cannot e-file if you put NRA for your social security number; she will have to mail it in.

Edited February 12, 2015 by Moustafa/Crystal

[nertilduraku 2]

did anyone from this forum, had issues in embassy for this type of filing status?

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Nobody has mentioned that the IRS says-

Marital Status. Your marital status on the last day of the year is your marital status for the entire year.

So if you were a married person on Dec. 31, 2014 then single is not an option, even if you were married only two days in 2014. All tax preparers should know that. It's not about pleasing the embassy or refunds. Choosing single is a violation of tax laws if you were married.

[joshuah57 14]

I just finished doing my taxes for 2014. I filed married filing separately just like it has been said many times on here. I plan on amending my return when she gets here. For those who do their own taxes or are thinking of doing their own taxes, it is VERY easy to do this. I did use TaxAct to do my taxes. Everything is filled out completely normal except you don't fill nothing in for your spouse's SSN or ITIN and then you check the box for married filing separately. TaxAct even asks if the spouse is a nonresident alien and it automatically put NRA in the SSN/ITIN line. I would think other software like TurboTax would also do the same. You will not be able to E-file though. You will have to mail in your papers.

I do have a question of my own though. I asked my wife if she has any papers showing what she made last year. She didn't keep any documents since she doesn't really pay any taxes since she makes so little and is going to school in Germany. For those that amended later or include spouse's income on their taxes, what amounts did you use? Do you have to convert it to American dollars? If you did, did you use the current exchange rate or the exchange rate then? Do other countries have an equivalent to the USA's W-2?

Oh, and one more thing....For those who plan on amending their returns, MAKE SURE you print or have extra copies of your taxes. You will need them when you redo your taxes and compare the differences when doing your amended return (form 1040X).

Edited February 12, 2015 by joshuah57

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

I do have a question of my own though. I asked my wife if she has any papers showing what she made last year. She didn't keep any documents since she doesn't really pay any taxes since she makes so little and is going to school in Germany. For those that amended later or include spouse's income on their taxes, what amounts did you use? Do you have to convert it to American dollars? If you did, did you use the current exchange rate or the exchange rate then? Do other countries have an equivalent to the USA's W-2?

.

When you go back and do your joint return--

Her income is reported converted to US dollars. You should use the exchange rate at the time it was earned. If it was fairly even all year, you can do a yearly average, or you could break it up by months and convert each month. Oanda.com has a good historical rate tool.

Her income is self reported. Nothing on paper similar to a W2 Is required for filing. I would certainly keep notes of what rates you used and earnings so just in case of audit, you remember what you did. Maybe she has online bank statements showing deposits to use to estimate since she doesn't have other records.

Her income goes on line 7 added to yours. You will do a form 2555 or better 2555EZ Foreign Income Exclusion to exclude the foreign. That shows up on the 1040 as a negative number on Line 21 "Other Income". If is thus subtracted out before Line 22 "Total Income".

[ammali 7]

I just finished doing my taxes for 2014. I filed married filing separately just like it has been said many times on here. I plan on amending my return when she gets here. For those who do their own taxes or are thinking of doing their own taxes, it is VERY easy to do this. I did use TaxAct to do my taxes. Everything is filled out completely normal except you don't fill nothing in for your spouse's SSN or ITIN and then you check the box for married filing separately. TaxAct even asks if the spouse is a nonresident alien and it automatically put NRA in the SSN/ITIN line. I would think other software like TurboTax would also do the same. You will not be able to E-file though. You will have to mail in your papers.

I do have a question of my own though. I asked my wife if she has any papers showing what she made last year. She didn't keep any documents since she doesn't really pay any taxes since she makes so little and is going to school in Germany. For those that amended later or include spouse's income on their taxes, what amounts did you use? Do you have to convert it to American dollars? If you did, did you use the current exchange rate or the exchange rate then? Do other countries have an equivalent to the USA's W-2?

Oh, and one more thing....For those who plan on amending their returns, MAKE SURE you print or have extra copies of your taxes. You will need them when you redo your taxes and compare the differences when doing your amended return (form 1040X).

joshuah57: I'm using TaxAct to do my tax return, when you choose: Check here if your spouse is a Nonresident Alien and is not required to have an SSN or ITIN - it did automatically put NRA in your tax form, but it put it in wrong field, in the Full name of your spouse, not in the Spouse's SSN field, and it wont put the name of your spouse in your tax when filing separately. I was wondering if you've experienced any of that? or it just me? Thanks.

[joshuah57 14]

joshuah57: I'm using TaxAct to do my tax return, when you choose: Check here if your spouse is a Nonresident Alien and is not required to have an SSN or ITIN - it did automatically put NRA in your tax form, but it put it in wrong field, in the Full name of your spouse, not in the Spouse's SSN field, and it wont put the name of your spouse in your tax when filing separately. I was wondering if you've experienced any of that? or it just me? Thanks.

Sorry I took so long to reply. What you see is correct. Since you are not filing jointly, the name and social security number do not need to be entered in that top section. If you look at the filing status, it says to enter social number above and full name here. Since there is not social number and the spouse is a nonresident alien, you just enter NRA (or in this case, TaxAct does it for you).