November 2018 AOS Filers

[SMK 89 68]

16 hours ago, K1visaHopeful said:

I just told our accountant what to do.

We filed MFJ. Can only paperfile.

I wrote up a Non Resident Alien election to be Resident Alien Letter which we signed.

Filled out 2555EZ to report my WW income. 

And then I'll just fill out FBAR on my own to declare my overseas bank account.

The accountant did all the normal stuff.

Do we still complete the 2555EZ if we were in the U.S. for over 183 days in 2018? Since that technically qualifies us as a resident (for tax purposes only)? If so, would we be checking off test 3 on the 2555EZ? Or it's irrelevant if you are over 183 days in 2018 and you simply complete your 1040 with your spouse as jointly filed or separately? Tax professionals in the area dont really have many answers...

[SMK 89 68]

14 hours ago, RambaCat said:

I'll be going into a H&R Block office on Thursday; the lady we've scheduled for is supposedly specialised in ITIN and Foreign Income taxes, but those forms and the medical exclusion form are relatively straight forward. It's the tax return itself I don't understand! I can let you know how it goes, I can't imagine it's going to be cheap, though...

Can you ask her if she has a colleague in Nashville she could refer us to? Struggling.. lol 

[jakejon 1,197]

22 hours ago, JunkTardis said:

Wetherspoon is a pub chain, they usually buy historic buildings and theme their pubs on what the buildings were. The one I worked at was my towns Post Office and sorting center in the late 1800's. The building was derelict and they re-vamped it, keeping a lot of the original timber and rooms. 

 

They provide 'theme days' such as Curry Club Thursday, Wing-it Wednesday as well as set menu items and very cheap beer, IPAs and lagers and a lot of other drinks on tap. Contrary to popular belief it's not 'end of date' product, but it's bulk discount. Some Spoons also double as hotels too at very competitive rates. 

 

Menu is pretty cheap, you can get a burger of choice with onion rings and chips/fries and a FREE drink for about £7.99 (14 CAD). If you ever visit, it's worth a look in. 

 

Source: Former employee, and here: https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/

 

Oh YES! Forgot about Wetherspoon's and their themed days. Their Curry Club was awesome!! I feel on another note, I can't wait to celebrate St Patrick's Day!! Never knew it was so fully embraced here. Going to try putting a bit of green food color in our beers that day to be connected to back home and see the big parades. Whoop whoop!!

 

Hoping by the end of this month we see some trickles of approvals starting to come through!! Really rooting for us November filers! Our Combo cards are going to unlock so many things for us ❤️❤️❤️ 

Edited March 5, 2019 by jakejon

[jakejon 1,197]

22 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

The frozen custard thing is ice cream!  And it is definitely regional.....we don't have it here in Seattle.  

Oh Seattle is somewhere me and Jake would love to visit when we have a bit more money! It looks so beautiful from pictures! ❤️ 

[JunkTardis 183]

9 minutes ago, jakejon said:

Oh YES! Forgot about Wetherspoon's and their themed days. Their Curry Club was awesome!! I feel on another note, I can't wait to celebrate St Patrick's Day!! Never knew it was so fully embraced here. Going to try putting a bit of green food color in our beers that day to be connected to back home and see the big parades. Whoop whoop!!

 

Hoping by the end of this month we see some trickles of approvals starting to come through!! Really rooting for us November filers! Our Combo cards are going to unlock so many things for us ❤️❤️❤️ 

I loved their curry day! Can't beat a nice chicken korma or tikka. Fyi, Walmart sells the Patak's jars of Tikka, Korma and a few other curries for around $2 if you ever fancy making it, and naan bread can be bought at Aldi! I made both for her family over Christmas and they loved it. I definitely knew St. Patrick's was a massive thing here, my wife's university's patron saint is St. Patrick - Patron Saint of Engineering so they are really big on it. If you ever want to read up, look at Missouri S&T in Rolla. Every year they have a new St. Patrick's sweater/hoodie and it's pretty interesting. I definitely have a few. I did re-home one of the St. Patrick's hats from work last year, so I am prepared! 

 

I really do hope we see some movement soon, whilst it's been nice having a break from 70+ hours of work per week, I would like to be able to contribute towards our bills. I'm not used to depending on anyone like that. Once we all get EAD/AP it will make the wait for GC much more tolerable. I'm just grateful I have a Missouri driver's license and have some form of freedom, idk how beneficiaries cope without that. 

[jakejon 1,197]

9 minutes ago, JunkTardis said:

I loved their curry day! Can't beat a nice chicken korma or tikka. Fyi, Walmart sells the Patak's jars of Tikka, Korma and a few other curries for around $2 if you ever fancy making it, and naan bread can be bought at Aldi! I made both for her family over Christmas and they loved it. I definitely knew St. Patrick's was a massive thing here, my wife's university's patron saint is St. Patrick - Patron Saint of Engineering so they are really big on it. If you ever want to read up, look at Missouri S&T in Rolla. Every year they have a new St. Patrick's sweater/hoodie and it's pretty interesting. I definitely have a few. I did re-home one of the St. Patrick's hats from work last year, so I am prepared! 

 

I really do hope we see some movement soon, whilst it's been nice having a break from 70+ hours of work per week, I would like to be able to contribute towards our bills. I'm not used to depending on anyone like that. Once we all get EAD/AP it will make the wait for GC much more tolerable. I'm just grateful I have a Missouri driver's license and have some form of freedom, idk how beneficiaries cope without that. 

Love Love LOVE the hat!!! Yeah, it was like I was discussing with a friend previously! It doesn't matter when the GC interview is. I know ideally we want it soon but some FO's are just that backed up! I think the Combo card will not only unlock but make the wait more tolerable as you say whilst we are waiting as we can get on with life for sure!!  

[K1visaHopeful 2,817]

3 hours ago, Bonnie_Clyde said:

Hi you said you could only paperfile. Is that because of having a pending AOS or because of not having a SSN? I have a SSN and wonder if I can just file online using Turbo Tax

You cant file online because you have to submit a seperate RA election letter if you want to file MFJ and need to declare your WW income.

[K1visaHopeful 2,817]

1 hour ago, SMK 89 said:

Do we still complete the 2555EZ if we were in the U.S. for over 183 days in 2018? Since that technically qualifies us as a resident (for tax purposes only)? If so, would we be checking off test 3 on the 2555EZ? Or it's irrelevant if you are over 183 days in 2018 and you simply complete your 1040 with your spouse as jointly filed or separately? Tax professionals in the area dont really have many answers...

I'm not a tax pro either. I just know what I did for my situation.

[SalishSea 17,834]

57 minutes ago, jakejon said:

Oh Seattle is somewhere me and Jake would love to visit when we have a bit more money! It looks so beautiful from pictures! ❤️ 

It is!  Best time to visit is July/August.  

[Luna3716 68]

1 hour ago, SMK 89 said:

Can you ask her if she has a colleague in Nashville she could refer us to? Struggling.. lol 

After trying to do my taxes myself via Turbo Tax and H&R Block, I ended up contacting a professional and she's been great and her office is familiar with immigration/foreign personal income taxes. They are based in the Boston area but so far we have communicated via phone and email so I don't think being in another state would be an issue. 

 

Also, I think if you wanted to, you could just file married filing separately and not have to include world wide income, but if you do that you'll get a much lower tax refund. 

 

Here is their website and number if you want to check them out!! 

 

781.449.5825

http://waldronrand.com/

[Bonnie_Clyde 48]

40 minutes ago, K1visaHopeful said:

You cant file online because you have to submit a seperate RA election letter if you want to file MFJ and need to declare your WW income.

Oh I didn't know that thanks. I'm filling MFJ. In case someone made than 24k overseas, does that person still need to declare WW income?

[RambaCat 643]

Just now, Bonnie_Clyde said:

Oh I didn't know that thanks. I'm filling MFJ. In case someone made than 24k overseas, does that person still need to declare WW income?

If you're married filing jointly then you need to declare all WW income.

[Bonnie_Clyde 48]

1 minute ago, RambaCat said:

If you're married filing jointly then you need to declare all WW income.

Thank you!

[jakejon 1,197]

27 minutes ago, Jorgedig said:

It is!  Best time to visit is July/August.  

We are visiting Portland at the end of the month as Jake works remotely but their office is based their, plus 90% of his family live there. Love how hippy Portland is. Portland is so pretty and very contrasting to Vegas. Hoping we have enough money to even get the max up. Jake loves Seattle but I've never been

[SalishSea 17,834]

4 minutes ago, jakejon said:

We are visiting Portland at the end of the month as Jake works remotely but their office is based their, plus 90% of his family live there. Love how hippy Portland is. Portland is so pretty and very contrasting to Vegas. Hoping we have enough money to even get the max up. Jake loves Seattle but I've never been

Fun!  I love Portland, too!  Seattle is only three hours north.  If you've been living in Vegas so far, and you visit Portland and Seattle, you will fall in love and not want to return to Vegas....😂