taxes

[radsr2002 0]

I filed as head of household with out any number. But I did have a dependant.

My tax agent handeled it.

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Your qualifying person is your birth child, stepchild, adopted child, or eligible foster child.

You filed a tax return separate from your spouse's tax return.

You paid more than one-half the cost of keeping up your home for the taxable year.

Your spouse did not live in your home at any time during the last six months of the taxable year (see Temporary Absence).

Your home was the main home for you and your birth child, stepchild, adopted child, or eligible foster child for more than half the year.

You must be entitled to claim a dependent exemption credit for your child. That is, your child must meet the requirements to be either a qualifying child or qualifying relative and meet the joint return and citizenship tests. However, you cannot claim a dependent exemption credit for your child if you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.

Edited September 21, 2007 by radsr2002

[RandyandRina 2]

Head of Household Self-Test

[AtlanataMikeNYC 0]

Yeah, I know of it being done both ways. I think it depends on which individual tax agent handles the return and application. When I called about why they didn't allow my daughter's exemption and issue an ITIN, they said it was because she wasn't in the US for half the tax year. When I said my wife wasn't either, they referred me to the p501 and said my wife shouldn't have been allowed either.

I think it's worth trying, if you're willing to mail a passport or have a way to get a notarized copy of one in your hands. I could have brought my wife and daughters' passports home with me, got them notarized and sent them back but I just didn't want to risk it. That's why I filed single and later amended. (I used the tax return to finance that second trip to China.)

My reading of the tax law would say that the spouse was allowable but the child was not... The child simply does not meet the definition and there is not a special exception available like there is for the spouse...

You can cliam your foreign spouse but they will need a "ITIN".

An ITIN, or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, is a tax processing number only available for certain nonresident and resident aliens, their spouses, and dependents who cannot get a Social Security Number (SSN). It is a 9-digit number, beginning with the number "9", formatted like an SSN (NNN-NN-NNNN).

To obtain an ITIN, you must complete IRS Form W-7, IRS Application for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (PDF) . The Form W-7 requires documentation substantiating foreign/alien status and true identity for each individual. You may either mail the documentation, along with the Form W-7, to the address shown in the Form W-7 Instructions, present it at IRS walk-in offices, or process your application through an Acceptance Agent authorized by the IRS.

[upstategal 0]

I was in the same situation as you in 2004 - single mom with dependant child - my tax prepayer told me to file head of household and then after my husband arrived and got his ss# - we could do an amended return.