Dual Status and Foreign Income, how to proceed?

[ALondon1 1]

Hello,

I have been reading a ton about our tax situation, and I am not sure I am on the right track. My hope is that my resident alien husband will not need to file this year.

Situation:

I am a US citizen and my husband came over on an IR-1 visa that we filed via Direct Consular filing in the UK. He arrived in the US on Dec 30, 2015.

We both worked in the UK in 2015, neither of us worked in the US or had any US income.

My understanding is that in the 1st year, my husband is considered a dual status alien, and is responsible for all US income (so, none) and worldwide income after the date he became a resident alien (also, none as he stopped working in the UK in August).

I was hoping to file married filing separately, and under the dual status rules, my husband would not need to file for 2015 as he had no income, US or otherwise for the 1 day that he was a resident alien.

My questions are:

1) Can I proceed this way? (There is no benefit to file jointly as we had foreign income and I will fall under the exclusion amount.)

2) Because he was a resident alien for 1 day in 2015, does he need to file FBARs and FACTAs for 2015 as well?

I am also wondering how you keep from going crazy with the complexities of US tax law! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

You can read details of a dual status year in Publication 519 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf starting on page 32

For 363 days in 2015, he would report only US earned income.

For 2 days in 2015 he would report any worldwide income he was paid on those days. You said he had quit working, so it doesn't sound like he got a paycheck on Dec 30 or 31. Did he get any payment for interest, dividends, or such on one of those days? It sounds like he more than likely has nothing to report so no tax return.

You can do yours married separate like you said. You will need to list his name and SSN, so get that before filing. No reason to try to do a joint return since you will have zero taxable income (unless you had some unearned income like interest and dividends.) Do read the Publication 519 because it has so many little details of what counts and what doesn't.

As far as FBAR goes, might as well do one if the totals exceed $10k. He was a US permanent resident in 2015. It is just a report done online so no not that difficult to list your accounts and highest balance. There are no tax implications. It is an informational report.

You would be subject to FBAR as well if your name was on the foreign accounts. Read the instructions to see how that is reported for married people who had joint accounts. I don't remember since only my husband does FBAR each year.

There is also FATCA if you happen to have more than $100,000.