USC refuses to file taxes jointly. I130 and i485

[SteveInBostonI130 3,471]

8 hours ago, happymember said:

No not married yet. I'm not even in the USA yet. The USC I will marry is just telling me In advance that they will put my name on lease open up a bank account together, pay bills etc but they will file taxes separately. They are worried they will get less in tax benefits at the end of the year if they file jointly. However someone mentioned on here I can file taxes as married but file them separately. That's why I was wondering will it hurt my i485 once I'm there just so I can feed it back to the USC.  My divorce in Egypt happened in the end. Thank god 🙏

 

Ok, there is a red flag here, aside from the tax filing.  You posted in the AOS from work, student and tourist visa forum.  Are you saying you are planning to travel to the US on a tourist visa, get married and then file for adjustment?  If so, that is visa fraud.

 

[SalishSea 17,970]

8 hours ago, happymember said:

Hey thanks for the reply USC is not my fiancee yet as I am still abroad. They have filled taxes for 2022 as single because I'm not living there yet. They are letting me know in advance after we get married that they will still file them as single once I am there. However I'm told by others when I apply for i485 it's going to hurt my application because we didn't file taxes jointly. 😞 I'm just researching this in advance before I go there because I don't want to mess up my application. 

Hopefully you realize that you will need to be petitioned for a visa.   There will be no I-485.

 

It is very premature to even be thinking about tax filing status.  How strange.

 

You are YEARS away from living in the US.

[SalishSea 17,970]

4 hours ago, happymember said:

Wow that is golden advice thanks for that Mike I'll let the USC know. If the USC still wants to file single I'll let them know I'm not prepared to do this as I don't want to be doing something that will be deemed as illegal and give me a mark against me. I truly appreciate that

If that is the case, please also let them know that you need to be petitioned properly for an immigrant visa, because coming over on ESTA/B visa with the intent to marry and adjust status is 100% IMMIGRATION FRAUD.

[W199 343]

9 hours ago, happymember said:

No not married yet. I'm not even in the USA yet. The USC I will marry is just telling me In advance that they will put my name on lease open up a bank account together, pay bills etc but they will file taxes separately. They are worried they will get less in tax benefits at the end of the year if they file jointly. However someone mentioned on here I can file taxes as married but file them separately. That's why I was wondering will it hurt my i485 once I'm there just so I can feed it back to the USC.  My divorce in Egypt happened in the end. Thank god 🙏

You are saying two different things. Here you say you will file taxes "separately".   The only "separately" category is "Married filing separately".  That is fine and makes sense under certain rare cases such as if he has HUGE out of pocket medical expense combined with you also having a good income,  then it could make sense. But you yourself would probably end up paying higher taxes. If these rare cases applied to him, then that is fine and is the right thing to do.    But if this is really the case,  then you should find out what he is hiding to create such large out of pocket expenses that prevent it from making sense to take the standard deduction.  Does he not have health care, gambling losses, etc?  

 

If the above is correct, then all is good, and ignore and  disregard the following.

 

The other thing you said which is very different from the above is that he wants you and him to file as "singe" after getting married. This is tax fraud, and very bad things will happen to you and him and your immigration benefits.   If he files single and you filed "married file separately", then you must list your spouse on the tax return. He will then 100% automatically get audited, have to pay fines, and penalties, and then bad things will likely happen in your "marriage".

 

He doesn't sound too tax savvy as he would have explained the exact rare circumstance that would make filing separately ad advantage. Usually it is HUGE advantage to file jointly. And to know if you really need to file jointly takes a bit of work with an accountant or using TurboTax and doing it both ways for both him and you and then combining the total taxes that you will pay when married.   Therefore, the only other thing that I can think of why he would want you to file single, and that he is hiding something from you such as he is really still being married to someone else. Otherwise, this really doesn't make any sense to commit tax fraud when it will almost certainly save a lot of money to file jointly.

 

Edited April 23, 2023 by W199

[Chancy 6,242]

*** Moved from AOS from Work/Student/Tourist Visas forum to Tax & Finances During US Immigration, as new info disclosed by OP reveals that AOS is not a legal option ***

 

On 4/23/2023 at 4:12 AM, happymember said:

No not married yet. I'm not even in the USA yet.

On 4/23/2023 at 4:26 AM, happymember said:

USC is not my fiancee yet as I am still abroad.