Since the first of the year is almost here, what have some of you done about filing taxes before your spouse gets her/his SSN?

I have thought about just filing single and doing an adjusted return after my wife gets here sometime this spring just so I could get my refund early and also have the latest tax return for her interview. I could also go to the trouble of getting her an ITIN but I don't know if it would be worth it since she should be here sometime mid-Spring.

Or I could just file an extension and wait until she is here. There will be no penalties since I usually get a refund every year.

Thanks to everyone for their advice/tips!

If you are married you can not file "single"!!! You can file "married and filing separately", which might work in your case. You would not need to refile when she got here. I do not think she would need to file anything as she is not in the country and not a resident. I'd check with an accountant or at least read up a little on the IRS website. It has a lot of info.

To file married filing seperate (which would be the correct status) requires you to identify your spouse and her SSN/ITIN. My suggestion is just do get the ITIN and file proper (MFJ or MFS) the first time rather than extend or amend.

I had the same situation this year when I filed tax for 05. After talking to my accountant and calling IRS, I filed as 'married filing sepeartely' and wrote spouse's SSN as 'unknown'. A couple of months back we amended the return to married filing jointly. I had figured this would be less painful than trying to get ITIN - one has to submit copies of IDs (passport etc) for the non-resident applying for ITIN and these have to notarized by a US notary. To get that done my wife would have had to go to the nearest US consulate which is 5 hours away.

Sounds like the best bet would be just to file an extension and once she gets here and gets her SSN, then file our taxes. Since she is staying at her family's farm she will not have any income to report.

I am hoping to have her here by mid-2007, so that would still give me a few months to file our return.

I will do some more checking at the IRS site and see if they have any advice as well.

I'll add another voice that says don't file as "single", even if you later plan to amend the return.

It's likely you'll eventually have to show the tax returns to the USCIS as part of the I-751 filing for removal of conditions. Or you may need them for the I-864 affidavit of support if that's not already completed. Either way, they'll want to verify that you're conducting yourselves as a bona fide married couple.

If you sign a "single" return, your signature certifies to the IRS under penalty of perjury that you are not married at all. How can you reconcile swearing to the IRS that you're not married with the fact that you're trying to prove to the USCIS that you are not only married, but that your marriage is bona fide? Maybe you'll eventually be able to explain away the mistake, but it's better to avoid raising the issue. After you're married, only file using one of the options that's legally available for a married person.

The other options already discussed should be OK.

Dogwood_Poet,

Why in the world would you file as 'single' if you are not?

When the time to file your 2006 income tax return arrives determine how much money your wife has earned in 2006, figure out if you'll save money by filing married-individual or married-joint, and either way submit an ITIN request form for your wife, with it's supporting documentation, along with your tax return.

Yodrak

I would file "married filing jointly". Just you need to attach W7 and a notorized copy of your wife's passport. Since you have enough time to have the form W7 completed, I would take this route. This is the proper way of doing it and you will save quite a bit of money as well. This will serve as one of the marriage proofs for USCIS too.

I did the same as above.

We filed as married last year, it was actually really easy to get an ITIN. Was no hassle at all, of course we are only 30 mins from a IRS office so we didn't need to have the docs certified, but the form itself was no huge deal and I only had to show my passport as id.

My experience was similar to this. My husband, who is still overseas, and I filed MFJ. I went to the local IRS office with the ITIN request form, our 1040 w/attachments, and held out a certified (not notarized) copy of his passport, which he didn't even look at hard. The IRS gentleman took the forms, typed something into his pc, then told me to wait a few weeks for the ITIN. I got it soon after. No big deal at all! Try it, you'll like it

As others have said you can't file single if you are actually married. I would either complete the W7 for the ITIN or file for an extension. In my case I filed for the W7 and yes my wife did have to go to the US Embassy in her country and get a copy of her passport notorized by the Consular. When you file your tax return with a W7 it cannot be filed electronically--it must be a manual return submitted to the Phil. PA office. There was an extreme delay in my situation and the IRS paid me interest on top of my return as an apology for the delay--however they also sent me a 1099 the next tax year calling the interest taxable income--go figure what a twisted scam they run. Anyway either way you will have a delayed refund because you will file the W7 or request an extension. Also note that when my refund arrived the check was sent out in a paper check not EFT to my bank account--but the paper check was written to both of us as Mr and Mrs. And therefore because of the Patriot Act no banks would cash the check--until I showed all of our VISA packets showing that I was a sponsor and financially responsible for my wife--finally after that they did allow me to deposit the check.

I went through a similar situation a few years ago. We didn't do a ITTN. Since I filed the I-864 in Jan 2005, all that was required at that time was to submit ITRs for '03, '02, and '01. I filed for a 4-momth extension, where I thought the spouse would be here in plenty of time to file a joint return, where she would have her SS number. She had her CR-1 interview in May '05. Since she had a long AR, which lasted 4 1/2 months, she didn't arrive here on the CR-1 until October 2005.

I spoke to some IRS people about the situation. I was told that since my wife didn't have a SS number or ITTN, I could file as single, then file an amended return when she got her SS number. I went ahead and filed a single return electronically with a very small refund. Once she got her SS number, we amended our return, which took about 3 months to get a much bigger refund.

I plan to file married joint for 2006 taxes. My asawa also will be arriving here in the spring of 2007. I have sent her the W7 form to sign and return to me and she has already obtained a certified copy of her passport from the regional Dept of Foreign Affairs office. This is not an actual notarized copy of the passport but is a legal size DFA letterhead document basically authenticating her passport information listing her biographic info including a raised dry seal. I will submit a copy of the bio page of her passport as well when I file next year. I don't want to deal with the ammended return stuff, and I realize that the refund will be delayed for the processing of the ITIN. She has no income, so that additional deduction for me is definitely worth filing with her ITIN.

If you all know Mr. Ray Bacon, he suggested me to file as single or head of household if you don't have ITN or SSN. Then when my wife arrived & got her SSN, I amended my return by changing it to married filing jointly. This was no problem.

To use the filing status Single you have to be unmarried as of Dec 31st 2006, to file Head of Household you have to be divorced or hold a legally binding separation agreement and have a qualifying dependent...

The correct filling status for someone married to a non-resident alien should be Married filing separate or Married filling jointly... you can reduce your tax liability by filing married jointly all you need to do is request a ITIN from IRS for your foreign spouse at the time of filling or before....

For more information see IRS website or IRS publication 17

Is this something that HAS to be done? What happens if you don't want to file your spouse. Can I just file married filing separately and if so will there be any problems for next year?

There is nothing to stop you filling Married filling separately You will pay more tax as your exemptions will be much lower then if you file married filling jointly... this will not cause you any problems next year...

You don't HAVE to file jointly - what you do have to do is file as Married - whether separate or jointly is up to you depending on the costs and benefits of each option.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want to have my spouse apply for a TTN. I want to file my taxes w/o that headache. I was planning on filing "head of household" but now I dont' know. I thought that was the right thing to do since my sister have done the same a couple of years ago but now I'm unsure. Please advise. The bottom line is I'm not looking for an add'l refund just don't want to owe any taxes.

I've heard some people have been successful with filing married separately, and just put unknown for spouse's SSN. Although it's not the right way to do it, it's worked for some people.

I'm feeling a bit out of my league, so maybe someone else can be more helpful, or maybe it would be worth it to have a consultation with an accountant

Yea I think I might have to look at that b/c the standard deductions for someone filing married separtely is a lot less then what I normally do "head of household".

thanks

To get the best refund and not owe any taxes you need to file married filling jointly this will give you the largest amount of exemptions and the largest refund.... it is a simple form to complete to get an ITIN number for your spouse... but you can not file head of household as you are now married... if you are unsure of what you need to do there are places like HR Block that do tax preparation who can help you they are not too expensive and will get you the best refund possible....

I do know that there is an exception for head of household, that if you have not lived together at all for the last 6 months of the tax year, then you are still permitted to file head of household. I'm not sure if there are any other requirements, but it is a potential possibility.

NOpe if you are married as of Dec 31st and you do not have a legal document of separation or are divorced then you can not file as head of household... there are no other exceptions... if you are married and dont live together then you can file separately if you want or jointly....

I'm by no means an expert, but I'm currently taking a tax law course, and just read the relevant Tax Code provisions:

Under the Head of Household definition in Section 2:

Certain married individuals living apart
For purposes of this part, an individual shall be treated as not married at the close of the taxable year if such individual is so treated under the provisions of section 7703( B ).

Section 7703:

( B ) Certain married individuals living apart
For purposes of those provisions of this title which refer to this subsection, if -
(1) an individual who is married ...
(2) such individual furnishes over one-half of the cost of maintaining such household during the taxable year, and
(3) during the last 6 months of the taxable year, such individual's spouse is not a member of such household, such individual shall not be considered as married.


Meaning that there is a possible exception, that the IRS may deem you to be not married.

But as I was saying before, it might be worth checking with an accountant - but I wouldn't make absolute statements unless you are really sure.

Yes what you quoted is very true.... if you look into it further you will find that there has to be a separation agreement and they have to have moved out of the household for the last 6 months of the year.... as the OP filed last year as head of household as a single person with dependents she can not continue to claim the same status... she would be much better off tax wise if she claimed as married jointly and got the full exemptions she can get....

I agree that filing jointly is best My understanding was that there had to be a separation OR living apart not necessarily both. But I will leave this alone now, as I'm definitely not sure on any of this, just trying to help, but maybe causing more confusion than help

Wow, I hadn't even considered this tax thing at all! But having read this thread, it sounds like the correct thing to do is to file married, if you're married (duh!) as of dec 31 of the tax year, and, filing separate or joint is up to the discretion of the taxpayer with each having its own negatives. Filing jointly would require a ITIN, but gets the best possible return, and filing single would mean not only does one have to amend the return later on, but also does not get as much money back.

Sounds like "married filing jointly" is the way to go!! Question to the informed folks : does one have to report the income that the spouse earned abroad? Sounds kinda silly to be doing so, but thought I'd ask anyways.

Thanks!

Good question, I was thinking of that same question myself!

Be that as it may but it worked for me. That's what filing an amended return is for.

I was also wondering the same thing. My husband is currently working and haven't for some time, so therefore he wouldn't have any income. I understand what everyone is saying but it just seem unfair. I know we are married but why should we be penalized for being married to a non-resident. I'm not looking for a huge refund so filing jointly doesn't matter to me but if I chose to file separetely I get burn. Just don't seem right, but that's Uncle Sam for you. Thanks all for explaining it so well.


But wait, I have another question. Could someone file head of household and once their SO arrive file an amended return for the correct filing status????? Just a thought.

Actually I answered my own question. Check this out for anyone w/head of household questions. It's on page 6, but you have to have other dependents. A spouse cannot be considered as one. Hope this helps.

Folks, anyone knows the answer to this question? Thanks!

When I spoke to an IRS officer, they said you do.

joe,

To echo szsz, the answer is yes. A US taxpayer has to report all income earned anywhere in the world to the IRS. They may not owe any tax on the income, but they have to report it.

Yodrak

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch02.html




I will be married, insha Allah, on Dec 27 and will be filing head of household as I normally do since I have two dependents. By doing so I do not have to include my spouse's income that he earns abroad.




That's not necessarily true if you see my quote above from that same publication.

Thanks szsz and Yodrak!