Help with filing in Australia

[loz9 0]

Going well! Had two days of orientation and training so far. Everyone there is so freaking nice.. I'm not used to working in such a friendly environment The campus is huge though.. about 6 or 7 sections.. I'm trying to learn it quickly so that I don't get lost when I have to do my rounds (going to every department to pick up records)

How's uni?

That's great! So are the majority of your days spent going from place to place? That would be nice to not have to sit all day.

Uni's great. I have straight As at the moment and next week is our mid-term, so half way through it's all going well. Hopefully I can keep it up for the second half of the semester.

I'm wondering if my husband getting here will be a distraction. Only 7 days!

[kaffy 2]

Unfortunately the majority of my day will be sitting at my desk surrounded by paperwork Another person in the department is responsible for doing the rounds but since they trained me in doing it I hope I get the chance to once or twice a week at least.

That's great you're doing well in school! And also great that your husband is coming soon! Have you guys made plans for Thanksgiving yet?

[loz9 0]

Unfortunately the majority of my day will be sitting at my desk surrounded by paperwork Another person in the department is responsible for doing the rounds but since they trained me in doing it I hope I get the chance to once or twice a week at least.

That's great you're doing well in school! And also great that your husband is coming soon! Have you guys made plans for Thanksgiving yet?

Well I hope you get the chance to wander at work from time to time.

We will most likely be going down to Florida to spend Thanksgiving with my parents and other family members. It kind of depends on if Dave can get the time off (assuming he can find a job). I'm so excited though. My in-laws were really great. They would always make sure we celebrated Thanksgiving while I was in Australia. They have this thing where they like to have 'themed' holidays. So last Thanksgiving we had all Indonesian food. Christmas was Southern US/New Orleans type food. While it was good food and I enjoyed it, it just didn't feel the same. I found myself craving turkey and mashed potatoes lol. I'm really looking forward to having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

What are you guys doing for Thanksgiving?? Will this be your first?

[loz9 0]

I just spoke with my husband. Everything went smoothly at POE. He said it only took about 20 mins at immigration. He's staying the night in LA and then I get to see him tomorrow!!

[Davis 0]

I don't know what you all of you USC have had to do about your taxes, and I appreciate all the help you have all given us so far, but I'm about to rip someone's head off or just toss the pc out the window if I can't get this figured out.

This is the last step before we can submit all of the Package 3 paperwork. I have been using TurboTax to do my US taxes for 2005,2006,& 2007 and they never seem to come out the same. So I just have a couple of questions if anyone can help. It's difficult because I've been living in Australia for so long and didn't realize I should have been reporting US taxes...

1) Should the Adjusted Gross Income be 'zero'? When I put in wages from another source it is a positive number and then when I put in 'foreign income' it's a negative number and they then cancel each other out. This seems to only happen sometimes, i'm obviously missing something somewhere. I can't imagine that a negative number is right.

2) I obviously have a foreign bank account, so I guess I have to fill out form TD F 90-22.1. The program does this automatically, I just want to make sure it's necessary. And I'm not sure where I'm meant to put the interest earned on the bank account.

3) I am not sure what to do about the tax I pay here in Australia and how to let the US know about that. I say 'yes' to the section that asks if I pay income tax in the foreign country but that's about as far as it goes.

I am sorry for these questions & the rambling but I'm about at my whits end with this! If anyone could please advise what their forms turned out like that would be great. I just need to get the silly Adjusted Gross Income to put on the I-864 form and then submit it all! I'm almost there but it feels so far away. I know that I don't owe anything or will get anything back from the US but just want to fill the forms out correctly.

Thank you again for any help anyone can send my way!

Mrs. Davis

[kaffy 2]

Hey Loz, how's your husband settling in?

Hope everything is going well!!