tax question, filing jointly or not

[ajay416 0]

Is it really bad not to file jointly? We are planning on filing as married but separate, because of a situation with my income earned in Canada.

I have a bunch of tax credits in Canada that I would like to use to minimize my income there. I have no income in the USA so I just assumed that I would pay my taxes to Canada this year and claim US taxes next year. Tax is so complicated makes my head hurt. If anyone has any advice it will be appreciated. My wife was on the phone with the IRS last month and each rep told us something different. We went to one of those local tax offices and the guy told me that my wife should just file as single, because he assumed I was an illegal immigrant (lol, ran straight out of there).

[jhunjhun 7]

Is it really bad not to file jointly? We are planning on filing as married but separate, because of a situation with my income earned in Canada.

I have a bunch of tax credits in Canada that I would like to use to minimize my income there. I have no income in the USA so I just assumed that I would pay my taxes to Canada this year and claim US taxes next year. Tax is so complicated makes my head hurt. If anyone has any advice it will be appreciated. My wife was on the phone with the IRS last month and each rep told us something different. We went to one of those local tax offices and the guy told me that my wife should just file as single, because he assumed I was an illegal immigrant (lol, ran straight out of there).

It's not bad to file your tax return jointly, it is beneficial for somebody. Don't worry too much about including your income in your wife's income tax return if it is under $87,000. You can exclude your income using form 2555 or 2555E. Canada and US has a tax treaty agreement therefore you won't be taxed twice. It's really depends on your situation, you can either file it jointly or separately whichever that gives you more benefits. I just filed my tax return last month, and you can file yours as long as you have an valid SSN. As I can see in your time line, you just received your EAD card. You need to apply for SSN. Once you got your SSN, you can either comeback there in your local SSA office and ask for your SSN print out - this takes about 2 days from the date you applied. Once you got your SSN wait about 7 days from the date you applied and file your federal tax return electronically. I did our tax return, I didn't pay anything because I used the fillable forms in IRS website and entered all numbers manually.

What is your situation reasons for filing your tax return separately? I haven't filed my Canadian tax return yet as I'm waiting for my T4s.

[Anh map 2,098]

Would it be worth it to go to one of the big tax services that operates in both the US and Canada? H&R Block operates in both. They might have the corporate knowledge to get you through the options.

[ajay416 0]

Thanks for the reply.

Yep, I applied for my SSN the other day, so waiting for it to arrive, or might just go get the print out.

I didn't know about the under 87,000 rule. I am pretty sure I was under that for last year, thank you for the form numbers. The reason I want to file separately is because I got some conflicting information, that If I would file jointly then all my Canadian income will be taxed as US income... and I would like to avoid that since if that was the case I would end up owing money instead of getting a refund, since I wouldn't be able to utilize xx,xxx in tuition credits in Canada. I will do some more research, I think I am just panicking too soon.

@Anh Map yeah, we will try going to HR block again, but the last time we went, they had no clue about Canadian taxes, I think you have to go to a specialist for that.

It's not bad to file your tax return jointly, it is beneficial for somebody. Don't worry too much about including your income in your wife's income tax return if it is under $87,000. You can exclude your income using form 2555 or 2555E. Canada and US has a tax treaty agreement therefore you won't be taxed twice. It's really depends on your situation, you can either file it jointly or separately whichever that gives you more benefits. I just filed my tax return last month, and you can file yours as long as you have an valid SSN. As I can see in your time line, you just received your EAD card. You need to apply for SSN. Once you got your SSN, you can either comeback there in your local SSA office and ask for your SSN print out - this takes about 2 days from the date you applied. Once you got your SSN wait about 7 days from the date you applied and file your federal tax return electronically. I did our tax return, I didn't pay anything because I used the fillable forms in IRS website and entered all numbers manually.

What is your situation reasons for filing your tax return separately? I haven't filed my Canadian tax return yet as I'm waiting for my T4s.

[jhunjhun 7]

Thanks for the reply.

Yep, I applied for my SSN the other day, so waiting for it to arrive, or might just go get the print out.

I didn't know about the under 87,000 rule. I am pretty sure I was under that for last year, thank you for the form numbers. The reason I want to file separately is because I got some conflicting information, that If I would file jointly then all my Canadian income will be taxed as US income... and I would like to avoid that since if that was the case I would end up owing money instead of getting a refund, since I wouldn't be able to utilize xx,xxx in tuition credits in Canada. I will do some more research, I think I am just panicking too soon.

@Anh Map yeah, we will try going to HR block again, but the last time we went, they had no clue about Canadian taxes, I think you have to go to a specialist for that.

It's not bad to file your tax return jointly, it is beneficial for somebody. Don't worry too much about including your income in your wife's income tax return if it is under $87,000. You can exclude your income using form 2555 or 2555E. Canada and US has a tax treaty agreement therefore you won't be taxed twice. It's really depends on your situation, you can either file it jointly or separately whichever that gives you more benefits. I just filed my tax return last month, and you can file yours as long as you have an valid SSN. As I can see in your time line, you just received your EAD card. You need to apply for SSN. Once you got your SSN, you can either comeback there in your local SSA office and ask for your SSN print out - this takes about 2 days from the date you applied. Once you got your SSN wait about 7 days from the date you applied and file your federal tax return electronically. I did our tax return, I didn't pay anything because I used the fillable forms in IRS website and entered all numbers manually.

What is your situation reasons for filing your tax return separately? I haven't filed my Canadian tax return yet as I'm waiting for my T4s.

I'm sorry my message was not posted due to internet explorer problem, I would like to suggest you that visit Canadian forum and there was a thread about Canadian and US taxes.

Here is the forum:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=173578