Hello everybody,

I have another question that just hit me - I am a permanent green card holder who has accompanied her US citizen husband abroad for a posting by his American company. I have a re-entry permit.
We file our US taxes together and I was just going through the taxes prepared by my husband's accountant in CA. Here is the problem. He has filed us as non-residents for the State taxes (because we aren't living in CA anymore) and residents for the Federal taxes. We are paying taxes in the foreign country (India) under the double-taxation agreement between USA and India and have filed the requisite forms to show the payment of these taxes for US tax purposes.

Was I not supposed to do this? Will this hamper my future applications with USCIS?

Thanks so much

You say "here is the problem".. So, what is the problem. I don't see it? On the surface it looks right.

I concur, Only if you declared yourself a non-resident on your federal return would you have a problem.

I'm sorry - I should have added more details. On the naturalization form there are two questions -

13. Have you ever called yourself a ''nonresident'' on a Federal, state or local tax return?
14. Have you ever failed to file a Federal, state or local tax return because you considered yourself to be a "nonresident"?

I'm worried that I was supposed to file as a resident for my state taxes too (though that doesn't make sense to me as we aren't residing in CA anymore).

Immigration is a federal benefit... Your state filing status has no bearing... Some states have no income tax....

So, when I do fill out the naturalization form, I put NO for answers 13 and 14, even though technically I did file as a non-resident for my State tax returns.

Thanks so much for your prompt replies. I just want to have it all settled in my head. USCIS boggles the mind!@

For example, if I am a resident of Florida and I work for a period of time in California. I will file my federal return as a resident, I will file a California return as a non-resident (of CA) and I will file No Florida income tax return.... This is only slightly different than what your situation is....



Question 13 - I suppose you would say "Yes"....
Question 14 - You would say "NO" as long as you have not failed to file some sort of a return.

13. Have you ever called yourself a ''nonresident'' on a Federal, state or local tax return?

Wonder what they mean by that question?

It's directly under:

C. Continuous Residence.
Since becoming a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States:

And they specifically say a RESIDENT of the US, one can only assume a NONRESIDENT would be one that claims he/she is not a RESIDENT of the US.

We in WI have state income taxes and like my sister that owns home here and both in Florida claims a partial residence in the state of Wisconsin so she only pays a percentage of her income in state taxes. But if we lived say in Menominee, MI and worked directly across the street in Marinette, WI, we would be residents of MI and not WI and therefore would not be subject to WI income taxes, but still have to fill out a form anyway stating that we are nonresidents. On the other hand, living in Marinette and working in Monominee subjects you to paying WI income taxes, by a state agreement, your MI employer will withhold WI income taxes.

If you worked and in lived in the USA and claimed a nonresident status on your federal, you would be in a lot more hot water with the IRS than the USCIS.

This is one question I did not have to ask my immigration attorney has we claimed residency on our state taxes, that question even becomes dumber as some cities also have a city income tax where you claim a nonresident status if you work there but live out of town, even in the same state.

Based on other nebulous questions of this type, my guess would be no for question #13, especially based on question 14:

14. Have you ever failed to file a Federal, state or local tax return because you considered
yourself to be a "nonresident"?

You did file your taxes, the USCIS never asked us for state taxes so we never sent them in, just the federal, but if you did, would only show you claimed a nonresident status for a particular state, no big deal. Apparently, whoever wrote this question lacks understanding of our tax system, could it be because that person was a Cuban refugee?