Be forwarded regarding Married filing jointly

[Squamish 10]

My husband is from the Netherlands and we married November 2016. I got an extension on my U.S. income taxes and paid around $925.00 thinking that would take care of everything. Today I learned after hearing from my tax preparer I will have to pay an additional $3,000.00!!!!! My husband did not have a large income and he paid his taxes also in Holland. My income is not large either as I am retired. There is something definitely wrong here. I did so much research on this topic and learned that Marriage filing jointly was the best option. There is still a Marriage Penalty here in the U.S. I wish we would have waited till January 1, 2016 to marry. We are meeting with the tax preparer this week so they can explain how they came up with this figure. It seems he is knowledgeable in these type of things but who knows. So if anyone thinks they might have this type of problem please wait till the first of next year to marry if you can.

I MEANT TO SAY 'BE FORWARNED'

[Kastrs 723]

Something seems wrong

Your husbands foreign income should be excluded and thus would not be subject to tax in the US

Additionally, you are not compelled to file MFJ you can file MFS if it would be advantageous to do so, you should do your taxes both ways and see which gives you the lower tax rate

[bendinlar 16]

Is there a chance he is getting hit with the obamacare penalty? Should be exempt from that as he is not yet living in the states.

[Squamish 10]

I don't believe Obamacare is the issue as we do have health coverage under something else. Supposedly the taxes were done both ways MFJ and MFS. My husband had no US income but if we file MFJ his worldwide income must be reported (which we did). We are meeting Thursday with the tax preparer to go over all this. This really is horrible considering our income level and how wasteful our government is with our tax dollars. I wonder if anyone else has run into this problem.

[Kastrs 723]

Yes it is true you "report" your husbands income that is not earned in the US; however, with the foreign income exclusions it should all be then excluded from US taxation unless he makes a TON of money. This process essentially makes it as if your husband has 0 income and he will not pay US tax.

I prepare my own taxes and filed married filing joint before my husband moved here, and got a much larger refund this way. All of his foreign income was excluded.

[EM_Vandaveer 2,408]

Yes it is true you "report" your husbands income that is not earned in the US; however, with the foreign income exclusions it should all be then excluded from US taxation unless he makes a TON of money. This process essentially makes it as if your husband has 0 income and he will not pay US tax.

I prepare my own taxes and filed married filing joint before my husband moved here, and got a much larger refund this way. All of his foreign income was excluded.

^^^^^

This. Reporting his foreign income and paying taxes on it are two different things.

[B and H 18]

Please report back after your meeting. Good luck.

[Squamish 10]

UPDATE: We met with the tax preparer today and the best way for our situation was for me to file MARRIED FILE SINGLE and claim my husband as a dependent. But the next year we will file MFJ. I still had to pay some taxes but it was on my income. But be forewarned because there is a marriage penalty for some people. His income in the Netherlands was of course not included. Now here is something interesting we did learn. When my husband does get his pension from Holland he will have to report it here and be taxed on it here. The U.S. and Holland have some type of tax treaty when pensions are involved that his country cannot tax it if it is taxed here but we would have to do some investigation on this to find out how to take care of this and of course it probably will be complicated. We will cross that bridge when we get to it. Maybe someone will be helped through what we just went through. There is so many laws and rules and situations regarding tax laws it is incredible. Anyhow, we are both happy and blessed we did find each other after all we went through during the lengthy immigration process.

Edited August 25, 2016 by Squamish

[Umka36 781]

Your spouse is never considered your dependent. On a joint return, you may claim one exemption for yourself and one for your spouse. If you’re filing a separate return, you may claim the exemption for your spouse only if they had no gross income, are not filing a joint return, and were not the dependent of another taxpayer.

https://www.irs.gov/uac/six-important-facts-about-dependents-and-exemptions-1

[Squamish 10]

Perhaps I mean an Exemption as he had no U.S. Income. I saw the tax law as he was a non resident alien during the tax year 2015.

[Jenilyn and Awal 22]

We have been married since 2013 but I tried to file and they say not until he is here

[MariaR323 199]

We have been married since 2013 but I tried to file and they say not until he is here

Find someone else... look for an independent tax preparer maybe. You are married and whether or not your spouse is in the U.S. or not, you are 100% eligible to file MFJ (married filing jointly). There is more than one way to file with a spouse or claim a spousal exemption so PLEASE look for a tax preparer who knows. You'll most often than not SAVE a lot of money.