I130 ITIN tax question for my spouse, kids?

[ZRomper 42]

14 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

Good luck!  Of course I have no understanding of the Belerus tax situation.  If you have not already done so, it might be worth it to consult with a tax expert familiar with both countries.

 

If you end up going to Deloitte, you might be able to milk them for some free advice when filing your for you ITIN.  They did my taxes when I lived in Germany and I had to file returns in both Germany and the US.  They did a good job for me.  However, I did not care about the cost because the company payed for it.

Oh that's the issue. Currently in Belarus it's extremely hard if not impossible to contact a tax expert familiar with Belarus/US taxes. There's a handful of cases like this a year.
Going to Deloitte would require me making a trip to Minsk (capital), missing a day of work, etc. Germany and Belarus are night and day in comparison.

 

I filed taxes for 2019 using NRA, TaxAct allows you to do this. I'll have to mail it in of course since IRS is not accepting online filings for back years at this time, but it's not an issue.

 

For my 2021 tax year, I'll do the same and like @arken mentioned, just file 1040-X for 2021 once i'm in the US and my wife has her SSN.

[top_secret 2,421]

Another option where you do not have to send a passport with the W-7 or deal through an acceptance agent, is if you can get a certified copy of the passport from the agency that issued it.  I have no idea at all if that is possible in Belarus but in our case in the Philippines it was just a simple matter of my wife stopping by the local passport office and paying the like a $2 fee for a photocopy of her passport bio page, certified to be a true copy by the Department of Foreign Affairs.  That was the only document we sent with her W-7 and our tax return.  The ITIN was granted and the return was accepted based solely on that certified copy.

[Merica-n 65]

On 11/11/2021 at 1:08 PM, ZRomper said:

I was filing my taxes all these years as single, thinking that since my wife has no status in the US, that's the way to go. Apparently, I was wrong.

What year were you married?  This is a complicated situation, but the first issue is statute of limitations.  You may not be able to receive a refund if amended years fall beyond the statute of limitations.

 

Your US Citizen child should have an SSN and thus doesn't need an ITIN.

 

MFJ is generally correct and recommended, but if you amend with MFJ, you will need to consider whether she had any income during those years.

 

I have more suggestions, but want to understand which years are applicable first.

[ZRomper 42]

20 minutes ago, Merica-n said:

What year were you married?  This is a complicated situation, but the first issue is statute of limitations.  You may not be able to receive a refund if amended years fall beyond the statute of limitations.

 

Your US Citizen child should have an SSN and thus doesn't need an ITIN.

 

MFJ is generally correct and recommended, but if you amend with MFJ, you will need to consider whether she had any income during those years.

 

I have more suggestions, but want to understand which years are applicable first.

We were married back in 2013. My US citizen child should but doesn't have an SSN as nobody at the Minsk Consulate told us he can get it at that time.

 

Sorry if I didn't make it clear in the OP, I'm not filing an amended return because I want to get a tax refund. I'm doing it only to correct my filing status from Single to Married Filing Separately, this allows me to not have to go through the process of getting an ITIN for my wife. I'm doing this only to avoid any potential issues at the NVC during their review of my taxes.

 

When we come to the US, let's say end of 2022 for example, I will probably file an amended return only for 2021 from MFS to MFJ which should be ok.

 

Other years, I'm not interested in amending for a bigger tax return.

Edited November 27, 2021 by ZRomper

[Merica-n 65]

1 hour ago, ZRomper said:

We were married back in 2013. My US citizen child should but doesn't have an SSN as nobody at the Minsk Consulate told us he can get it at that time.

 

Sorry if I didn't make it clear in the OP, I'm not filing an amended return because I want to get a tax refund. I'm doing it only to correct my filing status from Single to Married Filing Separately, this allows me to not have to go through the process of getting an ITIN for my wife. I'm doing this only to avoid any potential issues at the NVC during their review of my taxes.

 

When we come to the US, let's say end of 2022 for example, I will probably file an amended return only for 2021 from MFS to MFJ which should be ok.

 

Other years, I'm not interested in amending for a bigger tax return.

 

It seems odd that you seem to be living in Belarus 100% of the year, but you are not qualifying for the foreign income exclusion.  Do you travel to the USA to perform all your work?  Are you working remotely and your employer is not aware that you are in belarus most of the time?

 

 

[ZRomper 42]

9 minutes ago, Merica-n said:

 

It seems odd that you seem to be living in Belarus 100% of the year, but you are not qualifying for the foreign income exclusion.  Do you travel to the USA to perform all your work?  Are you working remotely and your employer is not aware that you are in belarus most of the time?

 

 

Good question.

 

No, I do not travel to the US to perform my work. I work remotely and my employer knows this. However paying the full US tax amount, this amount goes towards my SS benefits and I have no interest in paying 13% taxes to Belarus. 

This is why I chose not to elect the foreign income exception.

Edited November 27, 2021 by ZRomper

[Merica-n 65]

19 minutes ago, ZRomper said:

this amount goes towards my SS benefits and I have no interest in paying 13% taxes to Belarus.

 

This is why I chose not to elect the foreign income exception.

It's really difficult to give you advice without knowing the income amounts involved and some private information that you should not post on this forum.  I'm going to send you a pm with some questions you should ask a tax advisor.