Filing taxes after coming in on a K1 visa - advice?

[LucyWasTaken 0]

Hey guys! 

 

I have arrived to the US on 2nd of June, 2024 and got married 11th of July (yay!). We will be filing for the AOS in the next upcoming days. We would like me to be added to my husbands health insurance plan, which has asked us if we will be filing our taxes jointly as a married couple or not. This has created some questions for us, so I've come here to make sure.

 

Before arriving to the US, I was working until the 17th of May 2024 in Slovakia. After that, for the next 2 weeks, I was registered as an unemployed person, and have received unemployment support for those 2 weeks from the Slovak government - this support ended the day of my flight to the US to not create any mishaps. Since then, I have obviously not been employed, am not getting any support and have zero income.

 

From our understanding, the smartest choice would be to file the 2024 taxes jointly, with me adding all the payslips from my old job for IRS to check as nonresident alien (that will be treated as a US citizen for tax reasons due to the marriage). I have also heard something about my foreign income not having to be taxed by IRS, via the tax treaty with the US. Slovakia seems to have the tax treaty signed to exclude my income from being taxed, anybody that understands this more that could double check for us please?

 

Honestly just looking for any advice or experiences of K1 visa holders, who had to deal with taxes in the first year after the arrival and post marriage!

 

Thank you all so much in advance. ☀️

[Dashinka 24,488]

Yes, foreign income is exempt up to a point ($126.5k).  We filed jointly when my now wife arrived and we got married.  Have you applied for or received your SSN?

 

Good Luck!

[JeanneAdil 6,491]

Get that SS number ASAP as time is running out

 

file form 2555 to exempt foreign income for 2024 when doing 2024 tax returns

Edited July 22 by JeanneAdil

[LucyWasTaken 0]

That's perfect! My income in those 5ish months was barely up to 8k, hah!

 

Quote

Have you applied for or received your SSN?

Yes! I've applied and received it before the wedding, so my SSN is now in my maiden name. From my understanding, I'll be able to change it to my husband's name after I receive the GC (or that's what they at least told me at the Victoria, TX office...).

 

Thank you!!

[Dashinka 24,488]

4 minutes ago, LucyWasTaken said:

That's perfect! My income in those 5ish months was barely up to 8k, hah!

 

Yes! I've applied and received it before the wedding, so my SSN is now in my maiden name. From my understanding, I'll be able to change it to my husband's name after I receive the GC (or that's what they at least told me at the Victoria, TX office...).

 

Thank you!!

Yes, easiest to change it to your married name after receiving the GC as the SSA has difficulty when someone is using a form of ID with the maiden name.

 

Good Luck!

[Scandi 4,166]

3 minutes ago, LucyWasTaken said:

That's perfect! My income in those 5ish months was barely up to 8k, hah!

 

Yes! I've applied and received it before the wedding, so my SSN is now in my maiden name. From my understanding, I'll be able to change it to my husband's name after I receive the GC (or that's what they at least told me at the Victoria, TX office...).

 

Thank you!!

I changed mine when I got my EAD, but if you didn't apply for the EAD then yes, you can change your name with the greencard. 

I moved here in October 2016 and started filing taxes "right away", long before having any status in the US. For tax year 2016 I did NOT bring up any foreign income or the selling of my condo in my home country. I probably should've, but seemed easier to just skip it. We were only filing my husband's numbers/income etc, and the tax guy had me down as a "non-resident" of course, so we didn't get any penalties for not having health insurance for me at the time.