Really at a dead end over erroneous tax filing

[Imua 0]

As I stated in another thread I erroneously marked the 'single' box on my 1040EZ for 2007 - at the time I thought that you only filed as married if you were married for the whole of the previous year. Now I am very confused. If I file an amended return as married filing separately then the IRS will expect a separate 1040 from Govi even though he has never set foot in the USA and didn't earn any money at all in his name for 2007 - now it is October so obviously way after the April 15 filing deadline anyway... What would he show for W-2???? It's ridiculous.....

If I refile as married filing jointly then G needs to get an ITIN which (as I recall from a thread around tax time) is very difficult, his passport needs to be sent back and forth, etc. At this stage in the game we really don;t want to deal with any more Fed Exing besides the fortune I am already spending to send proofs and documents to him and really don't want to run the risk of his passport getting lost - at one time during the mess in Nepal the last few years the gov't wasn't issuing any more passports and with the way the NP gov't is in a transition phase who knows what could happen.

Honestly what have other I-130 filers done, especially if your spouse is a student or didn't have any income for 2007?

[payxibka 10,044]

You have up to three years to correct your 2007 tax return ( unti April 15, 2011). Is there some reason you want to do it right now?

[NicoleX08 1]

I am sorry that you are going through this. The ITIN is not that difficult to obtain, and they only need copies not the originals of the forms of Identification. And since this is an "off-peak" time for the IRS, you may be able to obtain the ITIN fairly quickly. The best route to go is the married filing jointly... the tax break is better and since he has no income in the US, it would work better in your favor...

[New Beginnings 32]

Yeah, the ITIN is really easy to obtain. The passport biographic pages need to be photocopied and they need to be certified from a US Consulate or Embassy or if the country is part of the Hauge or Hague convention it can be done from a person who is authorized to certify for the US. My husband just took the ITIN application, you can get that from the IRS website, to the Consulate in Casablanca and they certified the copies of his passport along with witnessing his signature on the form itself.

Super easy to do!

[bleecker 0]

Yeah, the ITIN is really easy to obtain. The passport biographic pages need to be photocopied and they need to be certified from a US Consulate or Embassy or if the country is part of the Hauge or Hague convention it can be done from a person who is authorized to certify for the US. My husband just took the ITIN application, you can get that from the IRS website, to the Consulate in Casablanca and they certified the copies of his passport along with witnessing his signature on the form itself.

Super easy to do!

I am confused. The petitioner has to file as married even though the spouse has never been to the US? Could you please clarify this. thanks

[brnidokiegurl 0]

we never got the number after trying twice, i just gave up, yes u r married (for the year) even if last day of december they figure as a year

Edited October 17, 2008 by brnidokiegurl

[New Beginnings 32]

Yeah, I filed Married filing separately because I claim none of his income and he has no US taxable income.

I actually didn't have his ITIN when I filed, however I had sent in the application. My tax person just put Petitioned in the section for it. My husband received the ITIN about 3 weeks after I petitioned for it.

Edited October 18, 2008 by bowlerbabe770

[Imua 0]

You have up to three years to correct your 2007 tax return ( unti April 15, 2011). Is there some reason you want to do it right now?

I am getting our documents together for the I-864 now. I wonder if I could send a copy of the 2007 form as is with the I-864 and explain that I made a mistake, we will be filing an amended return however the income is correct and we are in the process of applying for an ITIN for Govi - if all they need is a copy of the passport page then I have that already. I was under the impression that the copy actually needed to be notarized by an American notary IN THE US or IRS official who witnessed the copy being made so his passport would need to be sent to me. If he can do it in KTM embassy then that is easy.

Yeah, I filed Married filing separately because I claim none of his income and he has no US taxable income.

I actually didn't have his ITIN when I filed, however I had sent in the application. My tax person just put Petitioned in the section for it. My husband received the ITIN about 3 weeks after I petitioned for it.

Did you have to file a separate 1040 for your husband even though he had no taxable income?

Edited October 18, 2008 by Pattu Rani

[SusieK 3]

You have up to three years to correct your 2007 tax return ( unti April 15, 2011). Is there some reason you want to do it right now?

I am getting our documents together for the I-864 now. I wonder if I could send a copy of the 2007 form as is with the I-864 and explain that I made a mistake, we will be filing an amended return however the income is correct and we are in the process of applying for an ITIN for Govi - if all they need is a copy of the passport page then I have that already. I was under the impression that the copy actually needed to be notarized by an American notary IN THE US or IRS official who witnessed the copy being made so his passport would need to be sent to me. If he can do it in KTM embassy then that is easy.

Yeah, I filed Married filing separately because I claim none of his income and he has no US taxable income.

I actually didn't have his ITIN when I filed, however I had sent in the application. My tax person just put Petitioned in the section for it. My husband received the ITIN about 3 weeks after I petitioned for it.

Did you have to file a separate 1040 for your husband even though he had no taxable income?

Patti,

I filed last year as married but filing separate - and where it asked for Kris's ITIN number since we did not have one, NRA was put instead - this was fine, so you can just amend your tax return and show that - I remember someone saying that they filed single (which is wrong) but that they had xxxx amount of months to amend that -

The reason why we did not ask for ITIN was because he filed overseas, and we would he would be getting a social here upon is arrival sometime within in the next decade (sorry sik humor) there are alot of threads on this subject so just weed thru the threads posted in April and thats pretty much what you are going to see - you do not have to get him an ITIN if filing married, but separate.

Good Luck and always God Speed!

[Imua 0]

You have up to three years to correct your 2007 tax return ( unti April 15, 2011). Is there some reason you want to do it right now?

I am getting our documents together for the I-864 now. I wonder if I could send a copy of the 2007 form as is with the I-864 and explain that I made a mistake, we will be filing an amended return however the income is correct and we are in the process of applying for an ITIN for Govi - if all they need is a copy of the passport page then I have that already. I was under the impression that the copy actually needed to be notarized by an American notary IN THE US or IRS official who witnessed the copy being made so his passport would need to be sent to me. If he can do it in KTM embassy then that is easy.

Yeah, I filed Married filing separately because I claim none of his income and he has no US taxable income.

I actually didn't have his ITIN when I filed, however I had sent in the application. My tax person just put Petitioned in the section for it. My husband received the ITIN about 3 weeks after I petitioned for it.

Did you have to file a separate 1040 for your husband even though he had no taxable income?

Patti,

I filed last year as married but filing separate - and where it asked for Kris's ITIN number since we did not have one, NRA was put instead - this was fine, so you can just amend your tax return and show that - I remember someone saying that they filed single (which is wrong) but that they had xxxx amount of months to amend that -

The reason why we did not ask for ITIN was because he filed overseas, and we would he would be getting a social here upon is arrival sometime within in the next decade (sorry sik humor) there are alot of threads on this subject so just weed thru the threads posted in April and thats pretty much what you are going to see - you do not have to get him an ITIN if filing married, but separate.

Good Luck and always God Speed!

OK, thank you so much SusieK - I think I will do the same as you did since I see that your visa was approved. This was my original plan(amended return to show married filing separately) but someone in the other thread said that Govi would also need to file a return and since it's now 6 months too late to file an original return I freaked a little - I need to watch some more funny videos on youtube since I am stressing out too much, LOL...

[trinket 30]

I don't understand much of tax system, but after reading the threads of visajourney during tax season, my husband did file as married and applied for my ITIN.

Here is what happened, he applied in April, and in August he got a letter from IRS stating they can't issue me an ITIN since I don't have a SSN, my husband still hasn't got any returns as of this date and he stopped calling IRS anymore.

[cp2000 0]

As I stated in another thread I erroneously marked the 'single' box on my 1040EZ for 2007 - at the time I thought that you only filed as married if you were married for the whole of the previous year. Now I am very confused. If I file an amended return as married filing separately then the IRS will expect a separate 1040 from Govi even though he has never set foot in the USA and didn't earn any money at all in his name for 2007 - now it is October so obviously way after the April 15 filing deadline anyway... What would he show for W-2???? It's ridiculous.....

If I refile as married filing jointly then G needs to get an ITIN which (as I recall from a thread around tax time) is very difficult, his passport needs to be sent back and forth, etc. At this stage in the game we really don;t want to deal with any more Fed Exing besides the fortune I am already spending to send proofs and documents to him and really don't want to run the risk of his passport getting lost - at one time during the mess in Nepal the last few years the gov't wasn't issuing any more passports and with the way the NP gov't is in a transition phase who knows what could happen.

Honestly what have other I-130 filers done, especially if your spouse is a student or didn't have any income for 2007?

For those who choose to file married filing separately, whether your spouse must also file a U.S. tax return depends upon whether that spouse is considered a Resident Alien or Nonresident Alien and their level of income taxable by the United States.

Generally, Resident Aliens are treated like United States Citizens and are taxed on their worldwide income. Generally, Nonresident Aliens are taxed only on their U.S. sourced income. See Publication 519 (the 2007 version is here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf) for the specifics on the determination on whether an individual is a Resident Alien or Nonresident Alien and whether income is U.S. sourced or not. Tax laws, IRS rules and tax treaties with individual countries, among other things, may impact the determination of income. If your non-U.S. spouse has significant income, there are complications with your individual tax situation, or you just don’t understand any of this, I would suggest contacting an accountant, other tax advisor or the free IRS helpline at 1-800-829-1040 for assistance.

Another factor to consider in the determination on whether an individual is required to file a tax return is that individual’s level of income taxable by the United States. See the instructions to Form 1040 at the section entitled “Do You Have to File†(the 2007 version is here http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf; keep in mind that both Publication 519 and these instructions may change for 2008 but these are the current versions as of today).

Generally, an individual must have at least a certain level of income before such individual is required to file a U.S. tax return. An individual may choose to file a federal tax return even if they do not meet such levels (typically to get a refund of federal taxes withheld from their income or to benefit from certain tax credits, but these situations may not apply to a foreign spouse).

For those of you considering filing jointly with your spouse who is a Nonresident Alien, you may have to include an affirmative statement with your tax return electing to choose to treat your Nonresident Alien spouse as a Resident Alien. See Publication 519 at the section entitled “Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident†for more information on this election.

If you need to obtain an ITIN, a copy of your spouse’s passport biographical page can be notarized at the U.S. embassy in that spouse’s foreign country. That was what I did and it was accepted with no problems. It does not need to be specifically notarized in the United States or by the IRS.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about filing married even though the spouse is not in the U.S. As I stated in a previous thread:

Once you are legally married to your spouse, you are married under the U.S. tax laws regardless of where the marriage took place, regardless of whether your spouse is in the U.S. or not, regardless of whether you have changed your status at work and regardless of your spouse's current immigration status. Your choices once married are either to file jointly or to file married filing separately.

As a previous commentator above stated, even if you are married only on the last day of the year, you are considered married for that year under the U.S. tax code. I was married in December of 2007. So I was required to file my 2007 U.S. tax return as married.

Please note that the above is not intended to be tax advice. You should consult your own tax advisor or the IRS helpline (I’ve found them to be quite helpful).

Edited October 18, 2008 by cp2000

[payxibka 10,044]

I don't understand much of tax system, but after reading the threads of visajourney during tax season, my husband did file as married and applied for my ITIN.

Here is what happened, he applied in April, and in August he got a letter from IRS stating they can't issue me an ITIN since I don't have a SSN, my husband still hasn't got any returns as of this date and he stopped calling IRS anymore.

This is wrong... you cannot get an ITIN if you are eligible for SSN... So if you have an SSN you do not need ITIN... Your hubby should re-read what the letter says

[crazysamurai 0]

As I stated in another thread I erroneously marked the 'single' box on my 1040EZ for 2007 - at the time I thought that you only filed as married if you were married for the whole of the previous year. Now I am very confused. If I file an amended return as married filing separately then the IRS will expect a separate 1040 from Govi even though he has never set foot in the USA and didn't earn any money at all in his name for 2007 - now it is October so obviously way after the April 15 filing deadline anyway... What would he show for W-2???? It's ridiculous.....

If I refile as married filing jointly then G needs to get an ITIN which (as I recall from a thread around tax time) is very difficult, his passport needs to be sent back and forth, etc. At this stage in the game we really don;t want to deal with any more Fed Exing besides the fortune I am already spending to send proofs and documents to him and really don't want to run the risk of his passport getting lost - at one time during the mess in Nepal the last few years the gov't wasn't issuing any more passports and with the way the NP gov't is in a transition phase who knows what could happen.

Honestly what have other I-130 filers done, especially if your spouse is a student or didn't have any income for 2007?

Pattu Rani,

Take a seat back and relax. YOU DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG. I was in the same predicament when I was filling my tax return. I was worried that despite being married how can I file as single? What if they reject my application on this basis of filling single??? But to tell you the truth, your tax return is used to verify your income, not your marital status. They have your marriage certificate for that, which will serve as a legal proof that you are married.

I also filed my 2007 tax return as single. My case is complete from NVC without any problem. You didn't do anything wrong. Your husband wasn't in US for the tax year and he was not dependent on you financially, so technically you can not claim an exemption on him. If you had filed jointly, all you would have done is increase your exemption by 1 because he didn't contribute any income as your spouse. But this would be semi-illegal because he is neither in US nor dependent on you. So you are fine the way you have filed. That's why I filed single for my wife. Plus, your filling single basically allowed govt. to collect more tax from you . So I don't think they would have any problem with you.

thanks,

CS

[tanyaru 3]

As I stated in another thread I erroneously marked the 'single' box on my 1040EZ for 2007 - at the time I thought that you only filed as married if you were married for the whole of the previous year. Now I am very confused. If I file an amended return as married filing separately then the IRS will expect a separate 1040 from Govi even though he has never set foot in the USA and didn't earn any money at all in his name for 2007 - now it is October so obviously way after the April 15 filing deadline anyway... What would he show for W-2???? It's ridiculous.....

If I refile as married filing jointly then G needs to get an ITIN which (as I recall from a thread around tax time) is very difficult, his passport needs to be sent back and forth, etc. At this stage in the game we really don;t want to deal with any more Fed Exing besides the fortune I am already spending to send proofs and documents to him and really don't want to run the risk of his passport getting lost - at one time during the mess in Nepal the last few years the gov't wasn't issuing any more passports and with the way the NP gov't is in a transition phase who knows what could happen.

Honestly what have other I-130 filers done, especially if your spouse is a student or didn't have any income for 2007?

Pattu Rani,

Take a seat back and relax. YOU DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG. I was in the same predicament when I was filling my tax return. I was worried that despite being married how can I file as single? What if they reject my application on this basis of filling single??? But to tell you the truth, your tax return is used to verify your income, not your marital status. They have your marriage certificate for that, which will serve as a legal proof that you are married.

I also filed my 2007 tax return as single. My case is complete from NVC without any problem. You didn't do anything wrong. Your husband wasn't in US for the tax year and he was not dependent on you financially, so technically you can not claim an exemption on him. If you had filed jointly, all you would have done is increase your exemption by 1 because he didn't contribute any income as your spouse. But this would be semi-illegal because he is neither in US nor dependent on you. So you are fine the way you have filed. That's why I filed single for my wife. Plus, your filling single basically allowed govt. to collect more tax from you . So I don't think they would have any problem with you.

thanks,

CS

I agree. And plus filing under "single" or "married filing separately" does not differ in the amount of deduction you get, therefore you pay the same tax. All government cares about is $$ you owe to them. So since it does not make any difference you should be fine. And also, filing under "married filing separately" does not put any responsibility on you as far as your spouse filing under the same matireal status or not filing at all. You are simply not responsible for other people, even relatives.