Have ITIN, but Wait for SSN?

[dboeger1 4]

Hello Everyone,

 

I'm new to the forums but have found VisaJourney to be a fantastic resource during my wife's CR-1 application, so thank you all! My question today is about filing taxes with an existing ITIN versus waiting for an SSN. I looked for related topics, but most were about the original ITIN application itself.

 

My wife has already had her CR-1 visa in her possession for the past couple of months. However, unlike most couples, we didn't rush her coming here. She wanted to get her holiday bonus from her work and spend Chinese New Year with her family. So the end result is that she will be arriving to the USA with her CR-1 visa on February 12th, 2017, a fair bit later than we had originally planned.

 

Consequently, I'm a little confused about my options for filing 2016 taxes. Last year, I filed our 2015 taxes as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ), with her W-7 ITIN application. Unless there is something crazy I don't know about, I intend to file MFJ again for 2016 taxes this year.

 

The typical series of events seems to go something like this:

 

1) Between marriage and CR-1, file MFJ with W-7 for ITIN

2) Receive CR-1

3) Immigrate immediately

4) Apply for SSN (automatic if box checked during application process)

5) Receive SSN

6) Begin filing taxes with SSN

 

Part of me regrets checking that box during the application process. Had I not checked it, I would have just manually submitted the SSN application as soon as possible. Then I could reasonably decide what to do based on the time frame. However, I have read stories on VisaJourney about how the automatic SSN application either never went through or took many weeks. If that happened, we could be delayed well past the normal deadline. There is an automatic 2-month extension for her being abroad all of 2016, but knowing how clunky the government is, that's really not a lot of time in case we find out near the deadline that we have to start an entirely new SSN application. So I can't reliably assume she will have an SSN prior to the extended deadline.

 

So no problem, just file taxes with her ITIN, right? It's still perfectly valid. But is that prudent? What happens if I go ahead and file, and before it's processed, she gets her SSN? Does that invalidate our return, or mark it for audit? Do I need to file an amended return? The IRS doesn't appear to say anything regarding already-filed but not-yet-processed returns. It only says that once the SSN is issued, that should be used for all future returns, and we should contact them to explicitly void the ITIN and transfer association with her past return data to the new SSN. Does that voiding of the ITIN need to be done immediately? What would happen if I called to void the ITIN before the return was completely processed? It's just such an awkward time, and not a lot of answers on the web. So I'm mainly interested in hearing about other people's similar experiences.

 

I personally don't think it's much of an issue to file with her ITIN. I'm hoping I can get my tax forms as quickly as possible so that I can file before she arrives, which hopefully would mean we'd have our refund before her SSN, so at most we would just need to void the ITIN as usual. I don't really want to wait for her SSN, because again, it could be a long time, and the SSA is so opaque that they give you no way of knowing if there's even any progress being made.

 

Thanks,

David

[MariaR323 199]

Short and sweet answer is to not wait. File with the ITIN, perfectly legal, and then once you have the SSN you can call IRS and have them transfer the data & void the ITIN.

[RandyW 149]

On 1/11/2017 at 9:17 AM, dboeger1 said:

Hello Everyone,

 

 . . .

 

Part of me regrets checking that box during the application process. Had I not checked it, I would have just manually submitted the SSN application as soon as possible. Then I could reasonably decide what to do based on the time frame. However, I have read stories on VisaJourney about how the automatic SSN application either never went through or took many weeks. If that happened, we could be delayed well past the normal deadline. There is an automatic 2-month extension for her being abroad all of 2016, but knowing how clunky the government is, that's really not a lot of time in case we find out near the deadline that we have to start an entirely new SSN application. So I can't reliably assume she will have an SSN prior to the extended deadline.

 

 . . .

 

Thanks,

David

 

 

You may apply in person for her SSN as soon as her Immigration records show up on the SSA's computers - give them one to two weeks.

 

They will PROBABLY not honor that box you checked (in some RARE circumstances they do send the card  - usually not). In any event, they will NOT issue TWO SSN's to the same person.

 

But yes - there is no reason to wait for the SSN to file your tax returns.