American Tax return filed as "single" not "married"

[Adrian Druzdz 0]

Hello everyone! 

 

Myself & my wife (who is American) are about to submit our I-130 application. We've been married for almost 2 years now and when she filed for her taxes after our marriage she still put that she was "single" because her finical advisor advised her too as I don't live in the United States yet. 

 

After reviewing many forums online it states on some of them that it would look "suspicious" if we're married but she still filed her taxes as "single". We have spoke to the her financial advisor and they told us that it's possible for us to change it but we're not sure if that would look even more "suspicious" if we change the status right before submitting our I-130 application. Therefore, what would people advise to do? Would it be better to just leave how it is or should we change it and submit the application. Bearing in mind we're trying to get this application submitted before Trump goes into presidency as we've heard he's going to be changing the application process. 

 

For everyones reference below is what the finical advisor stated in the email when we asked about changing the status from "single" to "married". 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"On the tax side, we can amend the return to show you as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS). You are allowed to MFJ with your non-resident spouse, but they will need an SSN or an ITIN. You can get an ITIN through the state of Colorado. If they don’t have an SSN or ITIN, we’ll have to file as MFS. This might affect your overall tax liability slightly, but at least you’ll be in the correct filing type. Let us know if you have any other questions."

[OldUser 7,005]

There's nothing beneficial about keeping taxes filed incorrectly. I would amend taxes to be filed as MFJ if possible. I wouldn't do it with the same person who screwed your taxes before.

After doing this, your family should get better tax break and maybe even get a refund. 

 

Taxes are important for CR-1 / IR-1 as your spouse needs to be a sponsor on I-864. You also need to be careful with minimizing taxable income as it can hurt ability to sponsor as far as I know.

 

Good luck!

Edited Monday at 04:07 PM by OldUser

[JeanneAdil 6,583]

MFM takes a W7 form to apply for ITIN (taxpayer ID Number ) when the spouse is not a US resident

 

give the USC this internet IRS webpage that will explain the process

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse

 

it is well worth filing married as the standard deduction for an example for 2023 means she is due a larger return /or doesn't pay taxes on  $13850.

The standard deduction for 2023 is: 

• $13,850 for single or married filing separately 

• $27,700 for married couples filing jointly or qualifying surviving spouse 

• $20,800 for head of household 

 

Also your foreign income is excluded with form 2555 to the amount as follows 

 

For tax year 2023, the maximum foreign earned income exclusion is the lesser of the foreign income earned or $120,000 per qualifying person.

 

if married in year 2023

if married in 2022,  IRS posts the amounts of both standard deductions and exclusion for foreign income.

 

I married in 2010 and filed joint for all the years after 

[KMG 134]

2 hours ago, Adrian Druzdz said:

Hello everyone! 

 

Myself & my wife (who is American) are about to submit our I-130 application. We've been married for almost 2 years now and when she filed for her taxes after our marriage she still put that she was "single" because her finical advisor advised her too as I don't live in the United States yet. 

 

After reviewing many forums online it states on some of them that it would look "suspicious" if we're married but she still filed her taxes as "single". We have spoke to the her financial advisor and they told us that it's possible for us to change it but we're not sure if that would look even more "suspicious" if we change the status right before submitting our I-130 application. Therefore, what would people advise to do? Would it be better to just leave how it is or should we change it and submit the application. Bearing in mind we're trying to get this application submitted before Trump goes into presidency as we've heard he's going to be changing the application process. 

 

For everyones reference below is what the finical advisor stated in the email when we asked about changing the status from "single" to "married". 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"On the tax side, we can amend the return to show you as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS). You are allowed to MFJ with your non-resident spouse, but they will need an SSN or an ITIN. You can get an ITIN through the state of Colorado. If they don’t have an SSN or ITIN, we’ll have to file as MFS. This might affect your overall tax liability slightly, but at least you’ll be in the correct filing type. Let us know if you have any other questions."

Anyone that is married has to check "Married". I sent in mine as "married filing separately" because my husband does not have a US SSN or Tax ID.  It is never ok for a married person to file "single".

[TexasRafael 135]

If you were married that whole time then she should have filed married, all she needs to do is apply for you to have an ITIN and the amend the filings.

[OldUser 7,005]

1 hour ago, KMG said:

Anyone that is married has to check "Married". I sent in mine as "married filing separately" because my husband does not have a US SSN or Tax ID.  It is never ok for a married person to file "single".

Agreed. No reason to file Single. Not good and doesn't yield any benefits. I'd never speak to the uneducated financial advisor again. He / she probably suggested that to reduce time to file return. I only used tax "expert" once and taxes were filed incorrectly, with IRS asking for more money after reviewing it. Filed myself ever since - and never had a problem thereafter.

[Ontarkie 14,321]

~~Moved to Taxes and Finances, from IR1/CR1 Progress Reports- as the questions is about taxes.~~

[Boiler 45,757]

ITINs are issued by the Feds

[JD2 84]

18 hours ago, Adrian Druzdz said:

Hello everyone! 

 

Myself & my wife (who is American) are about to submit our I-130 application. We've been married for almost 2 years now and when she filed for her taxes after our marriage she still put that she was "single" because her finical advisor advised her too as I don't live in the United States yet. 

 

After reviewing many forums online it states on some of them that it would look "suspicious" if we're married but she still filed her taxes as "single". We have spoke to the her financial advisor and they told us that it's possible for us to change it but we're not sure if that would look even more "suspicious" if we change the status right before submitting our I-130 application. Therefore, what would people advise to do? Would it be better to just leave how it is or should we change it and submit the application. Bearing in mind we're trying to get this application submitted before Trump goes into presidency as we've heard he's going to be changing the application process. 

 

For everyones reference below is what the finical advisor stated in the email when we asked about changing the status from "single" to "married". 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"On the tax side, we can amend the return to show you as Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS). You are allowed to MFJ with your non-resident spouse, but they will need an SSN or an ITIN. You can get an ITIN through the state of Colorado. If they don’t have an SSN or ITIN, we’ll have to file as MFS. This might affect your overall tax liability slightly, but at least you’ll be in the correct filing type. Let us know if you have any other questions."

I chose to file MFS when my spouse was abroad during consular processing.  I consulted many tax attorneys and accountants and concluded the juice wasn't worth the squeeze to file MFJ (especially if a foreign spouse has a lot of income).

Edited Tuesday at 09:38 AM by JD2