Usc petitioner living abroad. How to do taxes?

[mansux 9]

Hi! When my usc husband did his last taxes in Texas he was told that he doesn't need to do taxes while living abroad. Well guess what, we have found out it was incorrect information.... My husband is living with me in Sweden and he has to do taxes for 2011-2015 and file for the exception or whatever it was called so he doesn't have to pay double taxes. My questions are: do you know any easy websites where he could do his taxes and how does he put the income and taxes on the form? We tried one website (don't remember which one at the moment) and we went from owing $3500 to getting a $7000 refund so we didn't file the taxes on that website because we were doing something wrong... We need to do his taxes for the I-864 form. Do you know if we should put him as unemployed and $0 income since he isn't working in the US or list his work and income from Sweden? We will be using a joint sponsor.

[B-2-Z 37]

Hubby was living with me in Canada from 2010-2015, and filed taxes in the US. It's easy enough to do, he called the IRS and got all the information he needed in order to file. I don't know if it's the same tax treaty with Sweden, but unless it was over $100k he didn't have to pay additional tax on it. Due to paying taxes in another country, he didn't get a refund back, because he had to be a resident in the US, which he wasn't.

Long story short, he has to file his taxes, and it doesn't matter if you have a joint sponsor. It's part of the requirements. It's fraud to report 0 income when that's clearly not the case.

Here's 2 good links straight from the IRS that Hubby used. Just read the information and file himself, it's very simple. The income reported will basically minus itself out, and make $0 owing.

https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U.S.-Citizens-and-Resident-Aliens-Abroad

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f2555.pdf

Hope this helped.

Edited November 9, 2015 by B-2-Z

[Anh map 2,098]

Being untruthful (lying) could earn you delays or at the worst a ban. So rethink the "just put zero because it wasn't in the US" approach.

Do the work and file the last 3 years of tax returns.

Some search results >>> https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=us%20tax%20preparation%20software%20for%20expats

[mansux 9]

Thank you for both of your replies! I just want to be clear on that he is going to do his taxes, otherwise I would not be asking for advice on where and how to do it and we do NOT have any intentions of being dishonest and lying in the form. I've read somewhere here on vj that you are supposed to put $0 as income because NVC doesn't count foreign income since it won't continue after we move to the US. Just because someone did it that way doesn't mean it was the right way. I want to make sure that every question in the form will be answered 100% correct But you answered my question: we put him as employed and state his foreign income for 2013-2015 but we put the amount he earned in dollars not Swedish krona

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Hi! When my usc husband did his last taxes in Texas he was told that he doesn't need to do taxes while living abroad. Well guess what, we have found out it was incorrect information.... My husband is living with me in Sweden

and he has to do taxes for 2011-2015 and file for the exception or whatever it was called so he doesn't have to pay double taxes. My questions are: do you know any easy websites where he could do his taxes and how does he put the income and taxes on the form? We tried one website (don't remember which one at the moment) and we went from owing $3500 to getting a $7000 refund so we didn't file the taxes on that website because we were doing something wrong... We need to do his taxes for the I-864 form. Do you know if we should put him as unemployed and $0 income since he isn't working in the US or list his work and income from Sweden? We will be using a joint sponsor.

Yes, if he earned money anywhere in the world, he should to file.

You can go to IRS.gov and find previous year's tax forms and instructions. Take it a year at a time because the forms and various numbers change each year. Unless you want to spend a lot of money, try it using just the forms and line by line instructions. Looking at 2014 version of the forms. the basics are--

Form 2555ez which is the foreign income exclusion. He has to have a reason eligible to use it. If he has a visa or something that allows him to work in Sweden then he meets the requirement. Read the instructions for the form. His earnings will be reported as US dollars. Use the conversion rate in effect the year the money was earned. after working down the sheet, the bottom should show he is eligible to exclude the entire amount of his earnings.

Form 1040- Line 7 is where his foreign earnings are reported converted to US dollars just like if he earned the money in the US. Going further down in that section is Line 21 which says "other income' this is where the foreign income exclusion from form 2555ez comes in. In the dotted line area to describe "type" of other income, write Form 2555EZ. For the amount column, write the exclusion as a negative number.

Example-

Line 7: $25,000.00 (that's what he earned)

Line 21: -25,000.00 (that's the exclusion written as a negative number. See the minus sign?)

Line 22 Total Income says to combine lines 7-21 which likely is zero unless he had income on other lines.

Then finish the tax return. With a Line 21 total income of $0, his tax should be zero. He didn't have anything held out by is employer on a W2 and already paid to the IRS (Line 64) so there should be no refund.

He prints and signs and mails the tax return off. The instructions will give addresses. Save photocopies of everything for your records and to make additional photocopies when needed for immigration.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Nich-Nick

[mansux 9]

Alrighty taxes are done! Thank you everyone for your help

[aaron2020 11,651]

Hi! When my usc husband did his last taxes in Texas he was told that he doesn't need to do taxes while living abroad. Well guess what, we have found out it was incorrect information.... My husband is living with me in Sweden and he has to do taxes for 2011-2015 and file for the exception or whatever it was called so he doesn't have to pay double taxes. My questions are: do you know any easy websites where he could do his taxes and how does he put the income and taxes on the form? We tried one website (don't remember which one at the moment) and we went from owing $3500 to getting a $7000 refund so we didn't file the taxes on that website because we were doing something wrong... Good move in not filing. It defies logic that a person who paid $0 in US taxes would be due a $7000 refund. We need to do his taxes for the I-864 form. Do you know if we should put him as unemployed and $0 income since he isn't working in the US or list his work and income from Sweden? Sure, if you want to commit immigration fraud. Your husband was not unemployed. Your husband's income was not $0. It doesn't matter if he wasn't working in the US since US citizens are taxed on their worldwide income even if nothing is earned in the US. Once you start lying, you are toast. Don't bother packing if you go down this path. We will be using a joint sponsor.

[mansux 9]

Thank you for your input. If you had read my previous posts it would have become clear to you that we have NO intentions what so ever on lying or committing fraud. Do you think I would be asking for help if we were?! As far as I know, this forum is intended to answer any questions a person might have and in my opinion it's better to ask first and then fill out the form. 1. I had read somewhere that you are supposed to put $0 because the foreign income doesn't count and I was asking about this because I want to make sure that we answer correctly. I was told several times every income counts so we are putting his foreign income on the form. 2. I was asking for help how and where to file the taxes correctly and I was given the right help and now his taxes are filed. We are making sure we do everything the right and legal way, even if that means I have to ask odd questions. So don't worry, two very honest people will make it to the US one day

[NikLR 13,220]

Some people certainly read the whole thread. LOL

I'm glad you guys got his taxes figured out. You've learned a lesson that many people have to about the US and taxes. Hopefully they'll be processed quickly for your so you can stay on track with your spousal visa.

[B-2-Z 37]

Glad you got them done! Brings you one step further

[mansux 9]

A week before my husband moved to Sweden he did his last taxes in the US and he asked that person eye to eye if he had to do taxes and was told no. We were naive to think that they would know the right thing and knowing what we know now we should have looked it up. But thanks to a lot of helpful people here on vj we learnt what's correct and when it's time to do 2015 years taxes we will be better prepared

[mansux 9]

I finally found where I had read that we need to put 0 on the income so I figured I'd post it in my question so that anyone else reading this can find my source. See the section about AOS package.

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/NVC_Process

[Expat1 971]

Hi! When my usc husband did his last taxes in Texas he was told that he doesn't need to do taxes while living abroad. Well guess what, we have found out it was incorrect information.... My husband is living with me in Sweden and he has to do taxes for 2011-2015 and file for the exception or whatever it was called so he doesn't have to pay double taxes. My questions are: do you know any easy websites where he could do his taxes and how does he put the income and taxes on the form? We tried one website (don't remember which one at the moment) and we went from owing $3500 to getting a $7000 refund so we didn't file the taxes on that website because we were doing something wrong... We need to do his taxes for the I-864 form. Do you know if we should put him as unemployed and $0 income since he isn't working in the US or list his work and income from Sweden? We will be using a joint sponsor.

I use TurboTax to file from overseas and report not just my but my wife's income in order to get the married filing jointly deduction. It's self-explanatory. If your husband did his own taxes he can figure it out.

The foreign earned income exemption is pretty generous, $105,000? I think this year. As to the refund, there is a blank for taxes paid abroad and a blank for US taxes paid. He probably put the taxes paid in Sweden on the wrong blank which caused the software to calculate a refund for him.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Expat1

[mansux 9]

We did his taxes a few weeks ago but through the regular mail, we'll check out turbo tax for 2015s taxes. Thank you for the tip!! I just wanted to add the link to where it says put 0 on income so others could see where I had gotten the information. When I was asking my question I just remembered reading it somewhere. Since I've repeatedly been told to put my husbands foreign income and putting 0 means I want to intentionally lie, commit fraud and so on I figured it would be useful for others to see that following the guide is the wrong way to fill out the form

[mansux 9]

If someone happens to come across this subject please disregard previous answers. Follow the vj instructions in the link I attached previously- the information in it was correct. This is what we had to do: My husband, the usc, living and working abroad had to file taxes by filling out 1040 and 2555-EZ. This made his income $0. On the I-864 he had to state that he is employed and his earned income in 2014 was $0. His income is not used to sponsor me and his foreign income will not continue after we move to the US therefore write down the amount you get after filling out 1040 and 2555-EZ. There are instruction forms that you can follow when you fill out the 2555-EZ. When you get your tax transcripts write a separate letter explaining that there are no W2's since its foreign earned income and send them in with your I-864. We used regular mail to do his taxes but you can do them online too.