IR1: Filed taxes as single. What should I do now?

[cyclone27 710]

22 minutes ago, Springrain22 said:

So, again, did you mean that I can just do nothing right now until she is here? Meaning that I can just leave everything as it is, go ahead with NVC, complete her case, get her visa and move to the USA, and then amend my taxes? Is this what you meant? Is it safe and CO will not deny her visa?

Yes you will be fine and I doubt seriously she would be denied because you screwed up your filing status. 

 

The reason  I say don't correct it now is because you will have to amend again if you want to claim the exemption that goes with filing married jointly and she arrives this year. 

 

 

[IcezMan_IcezLady 582]

it will only be a problem if a CO capitalizes on that because he/she may already have doubts about your relationship. Other than that, you can fix it later.

[VeVe 76]

8 hours ago, Waffle123 said:

Me and my husband are in the exact same situation, my interview will be next week and I recently found out that his lawyer advised him to file as 'Single'.

We will not have time to change anything now, but i would also like to know about what to do next and how to amend.

I filed single. We did not have any issues at the NVC or with the interview. We will amend the taxes later after. Per IRS "Form 1040X must be filed within 3 years after the date the original return was filed or within 2 years after the date the tax was paid, whichever is later". Form 1040X is the form you file to amend taxes. Good luck with the upcoming interview.

[starsofthelid 0]

FWIW I filed as "single" for the past 2 years while my wife was here on a G4 visa, and although I probably should have amended my taxes, I never did and it was not an issue for her green card (we got it this past November).

 

This year however, I have no idea how I am going to file, and that's why I am here!

[ConOfficer 167]

i rarely see people list their foreign spouses on their taxes. If the spouse is unlawful in the US and legalizing through consular processing, then yes, it's nice to see that they filed jointly. 

 

I always thought people that listed their foreign spouse on their taxes were cheating the IRS for a deduction they didn't qualify for. 

 

ConOff won't care one way or the other. Not our job to police your taxes. 

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

it is CR 1 if married under 2 years/ IR 1 if married over 2

we ended up as IR1 when he finally was approved

you also get 10 year green card when married over 2 years

ours came exactly a month from day he arrived

[Springrain22 427]

20 minutes ago, adil-rafa said:

it is CR 1 if married under 2 years/ IR 1 if married over 2

we ended up as IR1 when he finally was approved

you also get 10 year green card when married over 2 years

ours came exactly a month from day he arrived

Yes, we are IR1. The question was about filing taxes as single and CO interview as a final step.

[Villanelle 4,122]

There was a post by Pushbrk (who is very knowledgeable) that went over stuff like this... Basically he said that the IRS doesnt care if you file as single when you are married. You get a better tax break by filing one of the married variations or head of household. So the IRS cares if you claim something that gives you a benefit you werent entitled to, but do not care if you dont claim something and get less benefit...

 

The kicker is the USCIS does care in most cases. They consider your tax return a statement you made to another gov agency and can hold it against you that you said you were single... This is going to be on a case to case basis as sparkles stated- they had no issue. Do you have lots of other proof of the marriage and financial co-mingling? For a marriage of 4 years you should have a lot of stuff. If you do, they may not care that you filed wrong. 

 

If Im following along correctly, your spouse is doing an interview in an Embassy overseas correct? Perhaps give them a letter explaining how you were mis-advised about what tax status to use and they can present it if the interview warrants it. If the Officer doesnt ask, they shouldnt bring it up or give the letter with out needing to. It can make it an issue when it otherwise wouldnt have been.

 

To amend taxes takes a long time. Especially now during active tax season. Its going to take many months to be able to get it accepted and a new transcript. 

 

Because you have several returns to amend you should contact a CPA for assistance. It may be worth it to amend, it may not. But its going to be up to you what you want to do. You can file to amend and also provide proof of it to your spouse for the interview, or do nothing but give her that letter and if its an issue youll get a 221g temp denial to come back when its fixed. I know you dont want to waste more time, so if you can afford to go to a CPA and amend, then go and pay to fix them and send your spouse with all the documents you can and like above, do not present them unless asked. 

 

I dont know much about the Embassy you are using- if its a tough one for financials

or not. 

[Springrain22 427]

13 minutes ago, Damara said:

There was a post by Pushbrk (who is very knowledgeable) that went over stuff like this... Basically he said that the IRS doesnt care if you file as single when you are married. You get a better tax break by filing one of the married variations or head of household. So the IRS cares if you claim something that gives you a benefit you werent entitled to, but do not care if you dont claim something and get less benefit...

 

The kicker is the USCIS does care in most cases. They consider your tax return a statement you made to another gov agency and can hold it against you that you said you were single... This is going to be on a case to case basis as sparkles stated- they had no issue. Do you have lots of other proof of the marriage and financial co-mingling? For a marriage of 4 years you should have a lot of stuff. If you do, they may not care that you filed wrong. 

 

If Im following along correctly, your spouse is doing an interview in an Embassy overseas correct? Perhaps give them a letter explaining how you were mis-advised about what tax status to use and they can present it if the interview warrants it. If the Officer doesnt ask, they shouldnt bring it up or give the letter with out needing to. It can make it an issue when it otherwise wouldnt have been.

 

To amend taxes takes a long time. Especially now during active tax season. Its going to take many months to be able to get it accepted and a new transcript. 

 

Because you have several returns to amend you should contact a CPA for assistance. It may be worth it to amend, it may not. But its going to be up to you what you want to do. You can file to amend and also provide proof of it to your spouse for the interview, or do nothing but give her that letter and if its an issue youll get a 221g temp denial to come back when its fixed. I know you dont want to waste more time, so if you can afford to go to a CPA and amend, then go and pay to fix them and send your spouse with all the documents you can and like above, do not present them unless asked. 

 

I dont know much about the Embassy you are using- if its a tough one for financials

or not. 

Thanks for your answer. Would it be enough if I attach the explanation with all details why I was not able to file as married and that I'll fix it as soon as she's here so I have her SSN? The embassy we're going to is probably Warsaw in Poland, as it's the location where a Belarus people have their interviews.

 

[Springrain22 427]

16 minutes ago, Damara said:

There was a post by Pushbrk (who is very knowledgeable) that went over stuff like this... Basically he said that the IRS doesnt care if you file as single when you are married. You get a better tax break by filing one of the married variations or head of household. So the IRS cares if you claim something that gives you a benefit you werent entitled to, but do not care if you dont claim something and get less benefit...

 

The kicker is the USCIS does care in most cases. They consider your tax return a statement you made to another gov agency and can hold it against you that you said you were single... This is going to be on a case to case basis as sparkles stated- they had no issue. Do you have lots of other proof of the marriage and financial co-mingling? For a marriage of 4 years you should have a lot of stuff. If you do, they may not care that you filed wrong. 

 

If Im following along correctly, your spouse is doing an interview in an Embassy overseas correct? Perhaps give them a letter explaining how you were mis-advised about what tax status to use and they can present it if the interview warrants it. If the Officer doesnt ask, they shouldnt bring it up or give the letter with out needing to. It can make it an issue when it otherwise wouldnt have been.

 

To amend taxes takes a long time. Especially now during active tax season. Its going to take many months to be able to get it accepted and a new transcript. 

 

Because you have several returns to amend you should contact a CPA for assistance. It may be worth it to amend, it may not. But its going to be up to you what you want to do. You can file to amend and also provide proof of it to your spouse for the interview, or do nothing but give her that letter and if its an issue youll get a 221g temp denial to come back when its fixed. I know you dont want to waste more time, so if you can afford to go to a CPA and amend, then go and pay to fix them and send your spouse with all the documents you can and like above, do not present them unless asked. 

 

I dont know much about the Embassy you are using- if its a tough one for financials

or not. 

Yes, I have sent her money and I have all travel tickets, etc, so lots of evidence. Were married for four years but we know each other for 8 years already with all photos for all times.

[Waffle123 36]

1 hour ago, Damara said:

There was a post by Pushbrk (who is very knowledgeable) that went over stuff like this... Basically he said that the IRS doesnt care if you file as single when you are married. You get a better tax break by filing one of the married variations or head of household. So the IRS cares if you claim something that gives you a benefit you werent entitled to, but do not care if you dont claim something and get less benefit...

 

The kicker is the USCIS does care in most cases. They consider your tax return a statement you made to another gov agency and can hold it against you that you said you were single... This is going to be on a case to case basis as sparkles stated- they had no issue. Do you have lots of other proof of the marriage and financial co-mingling? For a marriage of 4 years you should have a lot of stuff. If you do, they may not care that you filed wrong. 

 

If Im following along correctly, your spouse is doing an interview in an Embassy overseas correct? Perhaps give them a letter explaining how you were mis-advised about what tax status to use and they can present it if the interview warrants it. If the Officer doesnt ask, they shouldnt bring it up or give the letter with out needing to. It can make it an issue when it otherwise wouldnt have been.

 

To amend taxes takes a long time. Especially now during active tax season. Its going to take many months to be able to get it accepted and a new transcript. 

 

Because you have several returns to amend you should contact a CPA for assistance. It may be worth it to amend, it may not. But its going to be up to you what you want to do. You can file to amend and also provide proof of it to your spouse for the interview, or do nothing but give her that letter and if its an issue youll get a 221g temp denial to come back when its fixed. I know you dont want to waste more time, so if you can afford to go to a CPA and amend, then go and pay to fix them and send your spouse with all the documents you can and like above, do not present them unless asked. 

 

I dont know much about the Embassy you are using- if its a tough one for financials

or not. 

Thank you for this answer, it is very helpful!

I am going to my interview next week and my husband will not have time to send a signed letter of explanation. 

Do you happen to know if Moscow, Russia is a tough consulate? For financials?

Thanks again!

[Jeanne Adil 1,651]

3 hours ago, Springrain22 said:

Yes, we are IR1. The question was about filing taxes as single and CO interview as a final step.

revise your taxes

if you already received return or paid, they can adjust

not hard to do

just add spouse and do the W7 and yes, involves envolves time but in some cases, like the frhigh fraud countries, it is worth it

but many file as single after marrying foreigner as they don't want to wait for the process of taxes with W7

[Wuozopo 4,293]

My opinion is the interviewer is looking at your tax return only to see how much money you made and if you qualify. They are not the IRS and are not analyzing if you filed correctly or not. The interviewer probably doesn't know any better than you do how to file when the spouse is resident in another country and has no SSN.  Just relax and tell her to be confident with her other proofs. If the question comes up, her answer is "I don't know why it is that way. A professional accountant did his taxes."

Edited April 10, 2017 by Wuozopo

[Waffle123 36]

Visa approved today!

No questions about taxes or financials whatsoever, they didn't even ask for 2016 taxes nor new affidavits of support.

We are still going to amend my husband's taxes.

Good luck to you and your wife!!!

[Springrain22 427]

8 hours ago, Waffle123 said:

Visa approved today!

No questions about taxes or financials whatsoever, they didn't even ask for 2016 taxes nor new affidavits of support.

We are still going to amend my husband's taxes.

Good luck to you and your wife!!!

Amazing news, congrats!! Can you tell me what the CO asked about that "Single" thing if he did so? And if you don't mind, what consulate and city?