Please help: California Tax - MFS

[Julie_ 0]

Hi, I got married to my husband last May and we're in the process of waiting on our CR-1 visa.

 

I live in state of California, which is a community property state and it requires all people filing MFS to attach something called Form 8959.

 

I'm not sure if I need to complete this form given our status:

1. My husband is a non-resident alien who lived outside of US for the whole year (no SSN/ITIN)
2. We both work corporate jobs and don't have any joint income (no real estate or anything like that). My husband's job is in his home country and it's a non-US company. 

 

If I do need to file a form 8959, does that mean we need to disclose his income in his home country and pay tax on that too..? 

 

Please help - ! 

 

[JeanneAdil 6,583]

this form is for US income to satisfy the amount needed to satisfy when your employer does not withhold it

 

and no MFS u do not have to claim his foreign income / MFJ u would have to but don't do that as South Korean does not have a tax treaty with the USA to exclude the foreign income 

as do these countries 

 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/united-states-income-tax-treaties-a-to-z

S

Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland

The tax applies to wages from employment, self-employment income and railroad retirement income, but if you are receiving W-2 income, the tax will most likely be withheld from your wages. Either way, anyone subject to the tax is required to file Form 8959 with their annual income tax filing.Oct 16, 2021

 

[Julie_ 0]

@JeanneAdil Thank you so much!

If that's the case, would I just re-state "my" income ONLY in form 8958, and put all amounts under my name and 0 under my spouse's allocation portion (and manually write NRA in SSN box)?  

Edited February 16, 2022 by Julie_

[Ayrton 965]

5 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

this form is for US income to satisfy the amount needed to satisfy when your employer does not withhold it

 

and no MFS u do not have to claim his foreign income / MFJ u would have to but don't do that as South Korean does not have a tax treaty with the USA to exclude the foreign income 

as do these countries 

 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/united-states-income-tax-treaties-a-to-z

S

Slovak Republic
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland

The tax applies to wages from employment, self-employment income and railroad retirement income, but if you are receiving W-2 income, the tax will most likely be withheld from your wages. Either way, anyone subject to the tax is required to file Form 8959 with their annual income tax filing.Oct 16, 2021

 

Please, don't spread misinformation. OP's spouse lives abroad and meets the physical presence, as 99% of immigrants on their first year in the US, so if they want to file jointly, they can exclude the foreign income.

[Ayrton 965]

5 hours ago, Julie_ said:

@JeanneAdil Thank you so much!

If that's the case, would I just re-state "my" income ONLY in form 8958, and put all amounts under my name and 0 under my spouse's allocation portion (and manually write NRA in SSN box)?  

There's a new instruction for where to write NRA. It shouldn't be in the SSN box anymore.

 

And like my previous post, if you have the ways of getting an ITIN for your spouse, you CAN exclude their income up to max allowed.