Filing 2020 taxes needed for non GC holder?

[sysw 9]

I'm a US citizen married to a non US citizen who is in the AOS process currently. My spouse entered the US in June of 2020, has never had earned income in the US, and only received the social security card in February of 2021 and is still awaiting the green card. 

 

I spoke with an accountant today as I prepare to file my 2020 taxes and he told me that I should file as Married Filing Separately and that my spouse does not need to file the 2020 US tax return because my spouse had no income from the US in 2020 and was not a US citizen nor a resident alien (green card) in 2020. 

 

Can anyone kindly verify if this information is correct that my spouse does not need to file taxes for 2020? I thought it was required regardless of residential status or not since we lived half a year of 2020 in the US but i'm a bit confused now.

I, of course, will be filing my taxes as a US citizen and my spouse will be filing taxes for 2020 in their home country.

 

Thanks in advance

[rubanitka 15]

1 hour ago, sysw said:

I'm a US citizen married to a non US citizen who is in the AOS process currently. My spouse entered the US in June of 2020, has never had earned income in the US, and only received the social security card in February of 2021 and is still awaiting the green card. 

 

I spoke with an accountant today as I prepare to file my 2020 taxes and he told me that I should file as Married Filing Separately and that my spouse does not need to file the 2020 US tax return because my spouse had no income from the US in 2020 and was not a US citizen nor a resident alien (green card) in 2020. 

 

Can anyone kindly verify if this information is correct that my spouse does not need to file taxes for 2020? I thought it was required regardless of residential status or not since we lived half a year of 2020 in the US but i'm a bit confused now.

I, of course, will be filing my taxes as a US citizen and my spouse will be filing taxes for 2020 in their home country.

 

Thanks in advance

You would benefit more when filing 'married filed jointly'. In this case you claim twice as much standard taxes deduction ($24800). Your wife may choose to be treated as a resident if she spent more than 180 days in the US in 2020. She needs to declare the worldwide income though, not only the US income. 

[igoyougoduke 1,676]

1 hour ago, sysw said:

I'm a US citizen married to a non US citizen who is in the AOS process currently. My spouse entered the US in June of 2020, has never had earned income in the US, and only received the social security card in February of 2021 and is still awaiting the green card. 

 

I spoke with an accountant today as I prepare to file my 2020 taxes and he told me that I should file as Married Filing Separately and that my spouse does not need to file the 2020 US tax return because my spouse had no income from the US in 2020 and was not a US citizen nor a resident alien (green card) in 2020. 

 

Can anyone kindly verify if this information is correct that my spouse does not need to file taxes for 2020? I thought it was required regardless of residential status or not since we lived half a year of 2020 in the US but i'm a bit confused now.

I, of course, will be filing my taxes as a US citizen and my spouse will be filing taxes for 2020 in their home country.

 

Thanks in advance

IRS and Immigration are completely separate. If you dont have any income you dont have to file whether you are citizen or resident alien 

[Ayrton 965]

6 hours ago, sysw said:

I'm a US citizen married to a non US citizen who is in the AOS process currently. My spouse entered the US in June of 2020, has never had earned income in the US, and only received the social security card in February of 2021 and is still awaiting the green card. 

 

I spoke with an accountant today as I prepare to file my 2020 taxes and he told me that I should file as Married Filing Separately and that my spouse does not need to file the 2020 US tax return because my spouse had no income from the US in 2020 and was not a US citizen nor a resident alien (green card) in 2020. 

 

Can anyone kindly verify if this information is correct that my spouse does not need to file taxes for 2020? I thought it was required regardless of residential status or not since we lived half a year of 2020 in the US but i'm a bit confused now.

I, of course, will be filing my taxes as a US citizen and my spouse will be filing taxes for 2020 in their home country.

 

Thanks in advance

Your spouse doesn't need to file taxes but it will probably be beneficial for you to file jointly.

 

Resident alien for tax purposes is different from being a Permanent resident (GC holder). You don't need to hold a GC to be a resident for tax purposes.

 

If your spouse doesn't meet the physical presence test, you can both just attach a statement electing your spouse to be treated as a resident for tax purposes for the whole year. All worldwide income will have to be reported, but can be exempted with form 2555.

 

You will also be able to claim all 3 of your spouse's stimulus check if you made less than 150k last year.

 

And there's no such thing as filing tax as us citizen. There's no question on the return that asks for your status.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Ayrton

[sysw 9]

8 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

Your spouse doesn't need to file taxes but it will probably be beneficial for you to file jointly.

 

Resident alien for tax purposes is different from being a Permanent resident (GC holder). You don't need to hold a GC to be a resident for tax purposes.

 

If your spouse doesn't meet the physical presence test, you can both just attach a statement electing your spouse to be treated as a resident for tax purposes for the whole year. All worldwide income will have to be reported, but can be exempted with form 2555.

 

You will also be able to claim all 3 of your spouse's stimulus check if you made less than 150k last year.

 

And there's no such thing as filing tax as us citizen. There's no question on the return that asks for your status.

Thank you and also to the other responders above. Can you kindly elaborate why you say it would probably be beneficial to file jointly? 

[Ayrton 965]

7 minutes ago, sysw said:

Thank you and also to the other responders above. Can you kindly elaborate why you say it would probably be beneficial to file jointly? 

If you make 50k and file separately, your standard deduction is about 12k, leaving to pay taxes on 38k. If you file jointly, since your spouse's foreign income is exempted and no US income, you get double the standard deduction on only your income, so instead of paying taxes on 38k, you only pay in 25k. Which means a higher refund for you (or less taxes owned). Also, you can claim all 3 stimulus check for your spouse if you made less than 150k. That's 3.2k as a tax credit.

 

Of course everyone's situation is different, so you can use one of the softwares to simulate what's the better outcome for you.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Ayrton

[Wuozopo 4,293]

16 hours ago, sysw said:

I spoke with an accountant today as I prepare to file my 2020 taxes and he told me that I should file as Married Filing Separately and that my spouse does not need to file the 2020 US tax return because my spouse had no income from the US in 2020 and was not a US citizen nor a resident alien (green card) in 2020. 

Your spouse spent more than 183 days in the US in 2020 (arrival June 10) and can file jointly with you based on physical presence test, rather than the greencard test. You do not need to attach any statement and can efile. The accountant does not sound well experienced with immigrant filing and might charge a bunch and give you bad advice that would also cost you more in taxes. While it is true that your spouse doesn’t need to file, your taxes will certainly be higher if you file separately rather than jointly. Plus he/she would be passing up a chance to collect the stimulus money.  
 

Try TurboTax.