Filing Taxes- No Green Card Yet

[Amy M 0]

Hi,

I am trying to file taxes using Turbo Tax, but am totally lost. If I file with my husband it is taxing his foreign income, and will not let me claim child care credit since he was not employed. We got married in October 2010 from a K-1 Visa and he does not have his premanent residency yet. He did not work in the U.S. last year either, only in Ireland. I tried Turbo Tax with married filing separately instead, but then it does not let me claim my student loan interest paid, etc, and will not let me e-file since I live in a community property state. Is there any way that I can file as married filing jointly without his foreign income being taxed? It doesn't seem right that he should be taxed on that when he's not a resident...Thanks!

[Inky 1,110]

You need to file an extra form for foreign income tax credit.

[LADYDARE 28]

In a similar situation but I did a foreign earn income exclusion.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

In TurboTax report his income way down the list under Less Common Income. It will then walk you through filling out the Form 2555 to exclude his income. It is not taxed, but how it would affect your other things like child care credit, I don't know because I've never tried that. He would qualify for the exclusion based on the bonafide residence test. He can't exclude his home, etc so just pick "next" on all those screens that asked if he maintained a home, etc. When you get it worked out, compare to married filing separately and go with the way that is best for you money-wise.

You also need to include the statement saying you both elect for him to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes for the whole of 2010. What to include in that statement is on page 10 of Publication 519