Hi everyone. I have a question in reguards to tax filing. I read here somewere that a letter is needed in addition to the W7 form for filing married joint. I cannot find any accurate info. on this. Can someone pls help me with this?
My wife has downloaded the w7 form and will fill out and sign, also notorized copy of passport. But this letter??? HELP!!
Thank you in advance for helping us with this.
I 130 sent and waiting for touch or noa1 now, wow hard to wait huh?? I feel for all of you who is going through this journey, our prayers go with you all.
God bless
Rich n Nancy

Hi! I did the W7 for my husband. First of all, I would say don't send it in-- take it in. The IRS doesn't like notorized copies of your stuff. They DO like to see the actual ID. I had to get my husband to send me his driver's license and his national ID Dhl so the little old IRS ladies could see it. And believe me, this made a HUGE difference. You have to submit the W7 with your taxes. they told me they like to deny the ones that come on their own. They also like to just deny ones whom they don't speak to. So I had a tax company do my taxes to make SURE they were right. then I filled out the W7 and brought his IDs. You weill also need a statement similar to the W2 for her earnings.. in my case it was this statement of earnings from my husband's university. You also need to write that letter... the letter instructions are actually in the paper W7. I don't remember what I wrote beyond somehting to the effect of us being married and him being a non-resident alien and me wanting to add him to my taxes.. something like that. My advice is to go down and actually get the form with the booklet. I filed directly with my teeny weeny IRS office in the federal building in March (like March 20-something) and received his approval in early May.

Rich n Nancy,

The letter in which a non-resident alien requests to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes? IRS web site, look for the publications dealing with resident and non-resident aliens.

Yodrak

I'm planning to use the W7 form to get my wife a ITIN and file as married joint. Unfortunately, she is a Filipina who worked for a US based company (cruise industry) and they provided zero documentation on her yearly earnings. Because she is a Filipina working overseas she paid no tax whatsoever. As I understand it (read in a thread like this) she could earn ~$80K USD without my having to claim it but I can't prove what she earned.

I never heard anything about having to provide her ID (actual license, passport, etc). She doesn't even have a license and she needs her passport there. I'm planning to get her passport in our married name certified/notarized and having her send me a copy of that document.

The other option is to file as single. I know people dispute that option but I've been told by someone who knows both Philippine/US immigration and US tax law and they said it's perfectly legal. Another VJ member spoke to tax accountants and they confirmed this is true. As always, take that for what it's worth.

I don't remember the details; but, I filed the W-7 in order to get a TIN for filing purposes. I followed the instructions; whatever they were, and had no problems.

t

Robor,

I didn't document my wife's foreign-earned income on my (our) tax return, I just reported what we thought it might be. It was not questioned.

Coming from a country where incomes are typically a fraction of most Americans' incomes, the amount we reported was maybe a third of the the foreign-earned income exclusion. It would be a waste of IRS resources for them to question it - her income would have had to be 3 times what we reported, 10 times or more what the average person makes in her country, before the IRS would see its' first taxable dollar.

Your option to filing married-joint is not to file as single, you aren't single. Your correct option is to file married-separate.

Yodrak

i spoke with so many tax accountants.
i can still file as single even do im married ( we got married october 2006) since my wife is from a foreign country, she has never been to the US, never been employed and no income at all. and she does not have USA SSN or ITIN.
filing married/separate is not an option since my wife will not be filing any tax at all and filing married/separate still needs USA SSN or ITIN.
accountants told me it is legal to claim as single with regards to my case.

I'm not sure about the advice these accountants are giving, but they are basically telling you it's okay to lie on your tax return. At the end of the return you sign it swearing everything is true. This may not be a big deal and unlikely to be enforced - but that's not a good enough reason for me to lie to the government!

Get yourself a new accountant! I am CPA with a PhD in accounting and teach taxation. My husband is British and has not yet lived in the US. Your 2 filing choices are married filing separately or married filing joint (caveat if you have dependents you might be able to file Head of Household). And you are correct that you need a US SSN or ITIN. The difference between married-joint and married-separate is whether you want to include wife's income. You cannot file single if you are legally married ... aren't you going to have to use this tax return for the embassy interview?

epoy2,

As a practical matter your accountants may be correct. The IRS is not going to investigate your marital status, and the tax rates are the same up to an income level that covers most people.

But it may raise questions with the USCIS or DoS when they see a tax return that says you're single when you're claiming to be married to get some woman into the USA as an immigrant.

Yodrak

I think I'll do the same and just attach an amendment explaining the situation. She only made between $15K and $20K anyway so it's well under their cap and like your wife that kind of money is well above Philippine average workers.

Even though it doesn't make sense to me I was also told we could file as single. I'm not going to do that though as married/joint will give us a better deduction.

Same with me. I'll be filing jointly. My wife also needs an ITIN and I'll be getting a notarized copy of her passport as well. She's a nurse from Australia and never worked for an American company. Can you tell me where you founf this 80k cap? I know my wife made well below that but I just want to verify it. Thanks!

I think the $80,00 mentioned is referring to the foreign earned income exclusion (actually now $82,400) but I think this only applies to US citizens and resident aliens but a spouse not yet living in the US would be nonresident aliens. However, if you are electing to filing a joint return then your nonresident alien spouse is choosing to be taxed as a resident alien so the exclusion might be allowed ... but I am not finding a direct IRS comment on this point. I would not assume you can use the exclusion without asking the IRS.

Thanks for the response! I'll definitely research this some more. I am hoping it's along the lines of her foreign income being excluded. If all goes well, my wife will be able join me at the end of August and we can file jointly without the need of an ITIN next year!

Looks like you can use foreign earned income exclusion for a nonresdient alien who elects to be treated as a resident alien ... see my separate topic with information from IRS website.

So is the tax return filed at the same time as the W7, or is the tax return filed after you get the W7 approved?

I believe normally filed at the same time but I read another thread somewhere here on VJ about going directly to a local IRS office and getting the W7 processed for the ITIN number. Keep in mind the taxes have to be sent to a special address. I think this is it (according to the instructions in an online W7 form I found):

Internal Revenue Service
Philadelphia Service Center
ITIN Unit
P.O. Box 447
Bensalem, PA 19020

For 2005 I filed single status because my wife was not here to sign the W-7, and I didn't have much time to file. Later I submitted the W-7 with an amended return (she is still not here, she is waiting for her visa). She got the ITN and the IRS is processing my amended return as I write this.

Bob

Here is a link. At the top of page three of the instructions it says to complete and attach the form to the return for which you will need it. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf


t

mchina34,

To be precise, the W-7 is filed at the same time as - and with - the tax return.

Yodrak

To be even more precise, many Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC) will process W-7's (Taxpayer Identification Numbers) as well.

Actually they will take your application but will forward to the IRS. They do not process them in their office.

You do not need to prove what she earned... you just need to report it...

Just my 2cents...

Per W-7 Instructions: “…..Your original, completed tax return(s) for which the ITIN is needed. Attach Form W-7 to the front of your tax return. After your Form W-7 has been processed, the IRS will assign an ITIN to the return and process the return….”

From my understanding, this whole process can take up 12 weeks, which means you will not get your Tax return receipt/refund from the IRS for about 3 months. This will not work out for those petitioners who have their cases approved and needs to send tax documents to their fiance/spouse ASAP. What do you guys think?

I filed for the W7 last year (with our return) at one of the IRS's tax assistance centers, and I got my ITIN within a couple of weeks, and our refund a few weeks later. Definately not 12 weeks.. Closer to a month really... Of course I filed early february, so definately get it out ASAP, before the big rush so they can get it back to you quicker..

[quote name='julianna' date='Jan 23 2007, 01:49 AM' post='678019']
Hi! I did the W7 for my husband. First of all, I would say don't send it in-- take it in. The IRS doesn't like notorized copies of your stuff. They DO like to see the actual ID. I had to get my husband to send me his driver's license and his national ID Dhl so the little old IRS ladies could see it. And believe me, this made a HUGE difference. You have to submit the W7 with your taxes. they told me they like to deny the ones that come on their own. They also like to just deny ones whom they don't speak to. So I had a tax company do my taxes to make SURE they were right. then I filled out the W7 and brought his IDs. You weill also need a statement similar to the W2 for her earnings.. in my case it was this statement of earnings from my husband's university. You also need to write that letter... the letter instructions are actually in the paper W7. I don't remember what I wrote beyond somehting to the effect of us being married and him being a non-resident alien and me wanting to add him to my taxes.. something like that. My advice is to go down and actually get the form with the booklet. I filed directly with my teeny weeny IRS office in the federal building in March (like March 20-something) and received his approval in early May.



Your info is wrong. I dont know who is advising you but mailing in your taxes (including the W 7) is fine. I've done it with NO problems. My husband had his passport notorized at the consulate.

No letter was needed. All on has to do is follow the directions given listed wit the W 7. It is quite simple.

chi

Must you have an ITIN to file either way?

will a copy of the noterized paperwork work?

wendy

As I mentioned in another thread....If you (nobody in particular..) haven't already done an AOS interview, you might want to reconsider filing single when in fact you are married. Our interviewer checked two things on our previous years returns....the amount of income and filing status. When I mentioned we had filed separately she did distinctly say "That's ok as long as you both filed married and listed each other as spouse." As Yodrak (I think) pointed out, you are trying to adjust your partner on the basis of marriage. Filing as single on Federal paperwork might not be wise........

[quote name='heartland' post='686671' date='Jan 26 2007, 01:10 PM']Must you have an ITIN to file either way?

will a copy of the noterized paperwork work?

wendy


If you don't have an ITIN you will have to file married jointly and pay dearly as you can not claim your spouses allowances. You can go ahead and file anyway and amend later once you get the ITIN, but like I said...it will cost you right now.

Not sure about the notarized paperwork though! Sorry.

Edited: Can't figure out quotes......retarded, LOL!

My Gawd.....I give up. Last post should read married filing separately.