Tax Return NRA

[Lexieteer 0]

Hi, just need help regarding the returns. I hope somebody would be able to clarify a couple of things because I am beyond confused. 😢

 

My husband filed jointly for 2019 and declared NRA under the space required for my SSN (I wasn’t able to acquire one when I arrived due to ignorance.) We acquired assistance from a tax return prep center and he was told that that would be fine and we would be able to file jointly. 

 

He was able to get his Federal return, but the State Department sent us a letter requiring information about my SSN/ITIN. Do I need to apply for an ITIN when my I-765 is already being processed? I read that by law I can’t have both an SSN and an ITIN at the same time. 

[Ayrton 965]

14 minutes ago, Lexieteer said:

Hi, just need help regarding the returns. I hope somebody would be able to clarify a couple of things because I am beyond confused. 😢

 

My husband filed jointly for 2019 and declared NRA under the space required for my SSN (I wasn’t able to acquire one when I arrived due to ignorance.) We acquired assistance from a tax return prep center and he was told that that would be fine and we would be able to file jointly. 

 

He was able to get his Federal return, but the State Department sent us a letter requiring information about my SSN/ITIN. Do I need to apply for an ITIN when my I-765 is already being processed? I read that by law I can’t have both an SSN and an ITIN at the same time. 

You CAN'T file a joint return without at least an ITIN for the spouse.

 

You said "he was able to get his federal return". Did you mean refund? I honestly don't know how that was possible, since you must have ITIN or SSN to file taxes. 

 

When did you file for AOS? 

[payxibka 10,045]

32 minutes ago, Lexieteer said:

Hi, just need help regarding the returns. I hope somebody would be able to clarify a couple of things because I am beyond confused. 😢

 

My husband filed jointly for 2019 and declared NRA under the space required for my SSN (I wasn’t able to acquire one when I arrived due to ignorance.) We acquired assistance from a tax return prep center and he was told that that would be fine and we would be able to file jointly. 

 

He was able to get his Federal return, but the State Department sent us a letter requiring information about my SSN/ITIN. Do I need to apply for an ITIN when my I-765 is already being processed? I read that by law I can’t have both an SSN and an ITIN at the same time. 

If you are eligible for ssn you cannot get itin.  Since you are not yet eligible for ssn until EAD is approved, it is your choice about itin.

 

Why would the state department send a letter?  State department is not involved in SSNs 

[Babu Frik 1,162]

1 hour ago, Ayrton said:

You CAN'T file a joint return without at least an ITIN for the spouse.

 

You said "he was able to get his federal return". Did you mean refund? I honestly don't know how that was possible, since you must have ITIN or SSN to file taxes. 

 

When did you file for AOS? 

Are you saying that because they're in the states already who's done it themself with no problem but their spouse was still overseas.

 

[Lexieteer 0]

On 4/23/2020 at 10:45 PM, Ayrton said:

You CAN'T file a joint return without at least an ITIN for the spouse.

 

You said "he was able to get his federal return". Did you mean refund? I honestly don't know how that was possible, since you must have ITIN or SSN to file taxes. 

 

When did you file for AOS? 

Yes, he was able to get his federal ‘refund’. 
 

Filed my AOS Feb 13 and I’m being scheduled for interview as of last update. 

[Lexieteer 0]

On 4/23/2020 at 11:01 PM, payxibka said:

If you are eligible for ssn you cannot get itin.  Since you are not yet eligible for ssn until EAD is approved, it is your choice about itin.

 

Why would the state department send a letter?  State department is not involved in SSNs 

I’m not entirely sure, but my husband told me he’s still missing his state refund and then we got that letter. 🤔

[Ayrton 965]

3 hours ago, Lexieteer said:

I’m not entirely sure, but my husband told me he’s still missing his state refund and then we got that letter. 🤔

Are you sure he filed Married Filing Jointly on the federal one? I don't think how they would process the return without an SSN or ITIN for you. Maybe he put Separately on the Federal and Jointly on the State, and that's why he got the federal refund but not the state one, since they asked for the SSN. 

 

Did he receive the stimulus check? What was the amount?

[NikLR 13,227]

~~moved to taxes and finances from AOS~~

If the federal return was processed as MFJ without an SSN or ITIN then the IRS messed up. 

[Wuozopo 4,293]

5 hours ago, Lexieteer said:

I’m not entirely sure, but my husband told me he’s still missing his state refund and then we got that letter. 🤔

I think you meant above that he got a letter from the state income tax office, not the State Department which is something entirely different.  
 

I agree with the others that the federal tax return and refund should never have been processed as a joint return with you listed as nonresident and providing no tax filing number (SSN or ITIN). You can look at your copy of the return and verify right at the top which box is marked:

__Single. __Married filing jointly  __Married filing separately

 

Moving on to the letter from your state income tax department— they probably have noticed you filed a state return without having either a SSN or ITIN. They want you to provide the number so they can process the return. You may have to delay giving that information until you can get one or the other (SSN or ITIN). Or perhaps your husband needs to change his state return to only filing for himself

[Lexieteer 0]

Thank you for all your responses. 

 

Yes, we’re sure we filed jointly. As I mentioned, we sought assistance in filing the tax return because of my lack of SSN and ITIN. We wanted to make sure we file correctly to avoid any problems in the future. I’m not sure what happened with IRS and why his Federal return was processed, but it was, and we’re thankful for it, regardless if it was a mistake on their part or not. I did see a post here before regarding putting NRA on their returns and they did not encounter problems, so maybe that’s what happened. I’m still new to this tax thing, so I appreciate all your inputs. 🙂

We’ve already contacted the state tax department - thank you for the correction -  given that I already have a Notice of Action all we have to do is give them a call once my SSN has been issued. They’ll release his state return then. 🙂

Edited April 29, 2020 by Lexieteer

[Lexieteer 0]

Thank you for all your responses. 

 

* Yes, we’re sure we filed jointly. As I mentioned, we sought professional assistance in filing the tax return because of my lack of SSN and ITIN. We wanted to make sure we file correctly to avoid any problems in the future. I’m not sure what happened with IRS and why his Federal return was processed, but it was, and we’re thankful for it, regardless if it was a mistake on their part or not. I did see a post here before regarding putting NRA on their returns and they did not encounter problems, so maybe that’s what happened? I don’t know. I’m still new to this tax thing, so I appreciate all your input. 🙂

 

* No, we didn’t get the stimulus check since we filed jointly, and I didn’t have a SSN the time we filed our returns. 

* We’ve already contacted the state tax department - thank you for the correction -  given that I already have a Notice of Action all we have to do is to give them a call once my SSN has been issued. They’ll release his state return then. 🙂