ITIN

[jane_smith 2]

Aw! Really? Sorry to hear about that. My husband indicated that the refund will be directly deposited to his US account. We had the refund earlier than expected. Hope everything goes well for your check this year. God bless!

We did likewise apply for an ITIN with the Jim Boyd Foundation. A bit of a haul for the wife but they were very nice and easy to work with. I just sent our taxes, after I signed them, to the wife and she took them to Angeles City and they filed them and filled out the forms after certification on the W-7. Then about 8 weeks later the check came. Best of luck!.....A note, if you file jointly and your spouse is in agreement, have the funds direct deposited into the USC's account. We got a check and it was made out to both of us, which is totally worthless because my wife isn't on my account and no one would cash a check sight unseen by one of the parties. I had a power of attorney and everything. Still have the check for last year unused.

Bob

Aw! Really? Sorry to hear about that. We filed jointly and my husband indicated that the refund will be directly deposited to his US account. We had the refund earlier than expected. Hope everything goes well for your check this year. God bless!

[Cathay Pacific 0]

I appreciate all of the replies in this thread!

Back to the acceptance agents - I'm closer to Manila, so I'm not sure it's a good idea to mail an original passport to the Jim Boyd office in Angeles City (and flying or taking a bus there from Manila seems a bit much), so we'll just hope that the Michael Miller Brown acceptance office in Manila is simply not answering the phone, and head down there during business hours with the hope they are open.

However, first I need to finalize my return, and after completing my U.S. tax return on TurboTax.com, I ran into several ambiguities, such that it seems unlikely I have prepared my return correctly. (Non-resident spouse with a child of her own).

I also found conflicting advice online about whether a form W7 can be filed for both the non-resident spouse as well as her child. One CPA I found online claims that a form W7 can be filed for the child of a non-resident spouse which then treats her child as a legal resident *for tax purposes only*, but it requires making an "election" which involves a form for an IRC 6013:

Living in the Philippines - Just a little more tax talk

However, when I tried to set that up in TurboTax, it didn't understand that filing circumstance. Turbotax also doesn't seem to like blanks where the social security numbers go, and is further confused to have both my spouse and her child with "applied for", thinking those are duplicate social security numbers.

Please, can anyone recommend a CPA or a reputable tax preparation service in Manila NCR who is competent to prepare an otherwise simple U.S. tax return?

Edited January 17, 2012 by Cathay Pacific

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

We got a check and it was made out to both of us, which is totally worthless because my wife isn't on my account and no one would cash a check sight unseen by one of the parties. I had a power of attorney and everything. Still have the check for last year unused.

Have you tried depositing it into an ATM?

[calibob 73]

Have you tried depositing it into an ATM?

Yes! on the advice of a bank branch manager and it resulted in them issuing us a counter check after crediting and then withdrawing the funds two days later leaving us returned check fees. Bottom line we have an ITIN this year and if you don't have one, have it direct deposited on your original return, don't get a check! The IRS is the most awful mess you ever dealt with. I took a day off work, waited in their lobby for 9.75 hours finally got in and the guy said he'd "make sure" the check was reissued in my name only after getting the power of attorney, and all forms we had. 8 weeks later a shiney new check arrived with.....both our fricking names on it........ .

We're filing electronically and having it direct deposited....I hope the nightmare is over!!!!

Bob

[smithmm 1]

CP, if the IRS acceptance agent in Manila is unavailable, I would advise on making the trip to Angeles to the Jim Boyd Foundation. Buses ply EDSA (usual stops near Cubao, Muñoz & Balintawak) with Dau signboard. Aircon bus runs maybe P100 and the trip is about an hour, depending on traffic. You can take a tricycle from the Dau bus station or walk past Jollibee to McArthur Highway for a jeep going south (left) to the arch. Jim Boyd charged P500 to review the civil documents with the W7. We tried applying for W7s for our children in October 2010, but ran into the eligibility requirement of needing to be residents in north America (Mexico, US or Canada). If we had applied 2 years before, there would have been no problem for them to have gotten their ITINs, allowing them to be listed as dependents. Now we've applied for CR2s so that we can do that later this year. You should have no trouble with your spouse. Yes Turbo Tax & other software are picky about SSNs. I just used the standard paper forms. You might try a dummy number and then use white out on the printout over your spouses SSN fields?

[Cathay Pacific 0]

Thanks smithmm.

Just a quick update - the Manila Acceptance Agent (Michael Miller Brown) finally started answering the phone, but they want 7500PHP!! (that's about $175USD!!) to certify the requirements for the Form W7 and then mail the return to the U.S. by FedEx. After taking away 1000php for the fee, FedEx is nowhere near 6500php to mail a letter-sized envelope with a dozen or so sheets of paper, so there is some serious price gouging going on there.

In contrast, the Jim Boyd office in Angeles City only charges 1100php *including mailing and preparing the Form W7*, so it's actually cheaper to take a bus from Manila to Angeles City and back again. Heck, we can even stay in a nice hotel to enjoy a night in Angeles City and still come out ahead.

The Jim Boyd office explained that they can provide such a large cost savings by express mailing returns to the IRS in batches at the end of each week, so they don't need to charge the marked-up FedEx fee that the Manila office is charging.

We're going to Angeles City.

Also, to follow up on preparing the actual return, TurboTax was willing to print our 1040 tax return despite my spouse's missing social security number - just ignore the warnings and "print with errors" and it's fine.

And here's the I.R.C. 6013 Election (names and addresses redacted) we are attaching to the front of our return:

--------

<date>

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service Center

Austin, TX 73301-0215 USA

To whom it may concern,

I, <wife's name>, a non-resident alien, choose to be treated as a U.S. resident for the entire 2011 tax year.

My spouse, <husband's name>, was a U.S. citizen as of December 31, 2011. Please see his enclosed 2011 Income Tax Return.

<wife's name>

<wife's address in the Philippines>

ID number: see enclosed Form w-7

<husband's full name with middle initial>

<U.S. mailing address>

Social Security Number <000-000-000>

Signed & dated:

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