Hi,

I (USC) got married last August to a Japanese citizen in Japan (where we currently reside). My wife lived in the U.S. about 5 years ago as a student so she has a social security number. Currently, we are beginning to apply for an immigrant visa by DCF in Tokyo. Our I-130 submission is scheduled for April 23rd. Anyway, I have already submitted my 2007 tax forms, but after reading some things on this forum, I am not sure I filed my wife's status properly. Since she is not a U.S. citizen and she does not currently reside in the U.S., I listed my status as married but filing separately. However, my wife has no U.S. income, is not a U.S. citizen, and has no visa, so she is not going to submit a tax return. Now, I am worried whether I checked the right box or not? For our situation, is what I did correct?

Thanks,
John

Hi John,

It sounds like you are concerned that by filing "Married filing separately" that the IRS will look for a cross-referencing tax return from your wife?

There are some missing pertinent facts from your description, namely, whether your wife earned any income at all (not just US income) and whether or not she received any benefit from any IRA's, health insurance perks from your job, etc. You also don't mention whether or not you claimed a standard or itemized deduction for her as a dependent of yours.

First, check Who Must File to see if your wife is indeed required to file as a dependent as in some cases, she would indeed be required to file a return.

Next, using the status "Married Filing Separately" almost always results in the government keeping more of your tax dollars. You should probably recalculate your return using the "Married Filing Jointly" tables to see if you would be eligible for a higher refund or at least less tax owed.

The good news is that you can amend your filing status using Form 1040X if you are truly concerned, whether or not filing jointly has a beneficial, adverse, or null effect on your refund/owed amount.

Good luck!

You can choose to do either: married filing joint or married filing separate. It really depends on your personal situation. The way you've filed for 2007 is fine. However, if you'd like you can calculate out whether married filing joint would give you more of a return and choose to amend your 2007 taxes. As I said before it's all relative - some people choose not to do filing joint because it throws them into a higher tax bracket even after the foreign income exclusion. Keep in mind that if you choose to file joint you'll have to claim your wife's worldwide income and also put in a statement saying you'd like to consider your wife a resident for tax purposes since you two are married.