1040X: Refiling from Married Separately to Married Jointly

[Paulist 0]

1040X: Refiling from Married Separately to Married Jointly

As is the process for many persons here, my spouse and I originally filed Married Separately while we waited for her visa (when she was in her home country and we of course did not have an SSN for her), and we are now in the process of *refiling using 1040x Married Filing Jointly because it is said to give a more suitable refund. During that year of tax filing she was defined as a nonresident alien.

We understand the 1040X form; it asks the taxpayers to indicate those tax information question items that are to be changed/revised.

However, I understand from form 519 that in order for nonresident aliens to use Married Filing Jointly, certain additional steps are typically required: the spouses submit a statement that they wish the nonresident alien to be treated for tax purposes as a resident. In addition, I understand that an additional form 2555 (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion) is required so that my spouse can indicate and exclude her foreign income. Does that all sound correct so far?

If so, I have a question because our situation is that of *refiling, not filing. The preceding steps would seem to be typical for filing as Married Filing Separately. But are they the steps required of the process of *refiling Married Filing Jointly using 1040X? The IRS instructions for form 1040X says do not include additional forms if they are not required.

In summary, does the *refiling process using 1040X require that we submit the statement of electing to be treated as a resident (since we are using Married Filing Jointly) and require that we submit 2555 (foreign income)?

[Paulist 0]

OK, part of the answer seems to be suggested in the IRS quote below, which I think may be helpful to others.

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Nonresident-Spouse-Treated-as-a-Resident

quote: You generally make this choice [to be treated as resident] when you file your joint return. However, you can also make the choice by filing a joint amended return on Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return within 3 years from the date you filed your original U.S. income tax return or 2 years from the date you paid your income tax for that year, whichever is later.

[MariaR323 199]

The actual 1040X is used to explain the differences between the original tax return and the new (changed) tax return. If you are now choosing to file MFJ and treat your spouse as a resident, you should attach that statement along with any forms or schedules that changed or new forms due to the change in filing status.

Arrange the forms in order of sequence that you see at the top right corner "Attachment Sequence No." and the statements go last behind the forms and schedules.

Hope this helps.

[Thozelle 16]

1040X: Refiling from Married Separately to Married Jointly

In summary, does the *refiling process using 1040X require that we submit the statement of electing to be treated as a resident (since we are using Married Filing Jointly) and require that we submit 2555 (foreign income)?

If spouse was nonresident at end of tax year, then request must be made to treat as resident if filing jointly. We did not submit 2555 since she had no foreign income.