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2011 Taxes in Turbo Tax

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We're having some problems with Turbo Tax, and I've read some threads but can't find the answer

I lived and worked in the UK until the end of June 2011

I entered the USA on the 1st July 2011

I got my green card on the 1st December 2011

I've of 6 months of wages from the UK

And also about $1500 in investment income

When we try and declare it in Turbo Tax its trying to tax me on everything and get us to fill out loads of extra forms

How do I get the exemption from foreign earned income?

When do I become a taxable US resident, I read it's probably before I got my green card, is this correct?

How do I separate investment income from when I was UK taxable to when I'm US taxable

We've got the Home and Business version of Turbo Tax because my wife runs her own business

Please help, we don't have thousands of dollars laying around

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Filed: Lift. Cond. (apr) Country: China
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We're having some problems with Turbo Tax, and I've read some threads but can't find the answer

I lived and worked in the UK until the end of June 2011

I entered the USA on the 1st July 2011

I got my green card on the 1st December 2011

I've of 6 months of wages from the UK

And also about $1500 in investment income

When we try and declare it in Turbo Tax its trying to tax me on everything and get us to fill out loads of extra forms

How do I get the exemption from foreign earned income?

When do I become a taxable US resident, I read it's probably before I got my green card, is this correct?

How do I separate investment income from when I was UK taxable to when I'm US taxable

We've got the Home and Business version of Turbo Tax because my wife runs her own business

Please help, we don't have thousands of dollars laying around

You may want to consider posting your tax issue in a Turbo Tax forum....... :blink:

Yeah, I doubt that there are many of us that have thousands of dollars laying around, particularly after the recent series of financial meltdowns...... :unsure:

Good luck.

YMMV.

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"Si vis amari, ama" - Seneca

 

 

 

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Filed: Lift. Cond. (apr) Country: China
Timeline

.....there's a turbo tax forum? I'll have to try and find it

Found This forum through the use of a google search. :unsure:

Good luck...

Completed: K1/K2 (271 days) - AOS/EAD/AP (134 days) - ROC (279 days)

"Si vis amari, ama" - Seneca

 

 

 

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When we try and declare it in Turbo Tax its trying to tax me on everything and get us to fill out loads of extra forms

How do I get the exemption from foreign earned income?

When do I become a taxable US resident, I read it's probably before I got my green card, is this correct?

How do I separate investment income from when I was UK taxable to when I'm US taxable

We've got the Home and Business version of Turbo Tax because my wife runs her own business

Please help, we don't have thousands of dollars laying around

This is my last year's walk-thru of TurboTax. It was TurboTax Basic installed on the computer. They change things around each year and I haven't gone through the 2011 program yet, but maybe this post will get you going. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/293088-filing-taxes-as-married/page__view__findpost__p__4525477

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Thanks to the walk through we got the return completed, although the next day the IRS sent us a rejection with maybe as many as 30 things they didn't like. Mostly stuff around the exemption on my wages from before I moved, so it's a good thing we have until April to complete it. I never thought I'd miss HMRC

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Thanks to the walk through we got the return completed, although the next day the IRS sent us a rejection with maybe as many as 30 things they didn't like. Mostly stuff around the exemption on my wages from before I moved, so it's a good thing we have until April to complete it. I never thought I'd miss HMRC

And PAYE!

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And PAYE!

Well America has it's own version of PAYE. You'll still have tax deducted from each pay-check, just like in the UK.

But unlike the UK, American taxpayers can reduce their final liability with a multitude of potential deductions, hence the annual tax return for all.

We filed our taxes yesterday, and after claiming our mortgage interest, medical expenses, charitable donations etc, we got notification that we overpaid in 2011 by $2,000. And many of our friends and colleagues get a lot more back than that. Personally, I much prefer the American system (and the refund) to the British one. Of course I might feel differently if we found out we had UNDERPAID in 2011!

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I like turbotax. We've never had a problem and we have lived back and forth between the US and overseas.

You do have to fill out the loads of extra forms LOL.

Foreign earned income exemption is calculated either on the basis of "physical presence" or "bonafide residence" tests. You should file the exemption under the "bonafide residence" test aka bonafide residence overseas through your POE date.

You become a taxable US resident when you entered at your POE and drove to your new residence. That's around July 1st.

Turbotax will subtract 50% (Jan-July) of $96,000 and the rest of your income, sadly, is taxable.

Welcome to America!

We're having some problems with Turbo Tax, and I've read some threads but can't find the answer

I lived and worked in the UK until the end of June 2011

I entered the USA on the 1st July 2011

I got my green card on the 1st December 2011

I've of 6 months of wages from the UK

And also about $1500 in investment income

When we try and declare it in Turbo Tax its trying to tax me on everything and get us to fill out loads of extra forms

How do I get the exemption from foreign earned income?

When do I become a taxable US resident, I read it's probably before I got my green card, is this correct?

How do I separate investment income from when I was UK taxable to when I'm US taxable

We've got the Home and Business version of Turbo Tax because my wife runs her own business

Please help, we don't have thousands of dollars laying around

 

i don't get it.

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So we look at our Turbo Tax rejection, and it rejected every page. For some reason we are not allowed to e-file, I had a look online and couldn't find a good reason. So we've printed it out and will see what happens

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Finland
Timeline

Turbotax will subtract 50% (Jan-July) of $96,000 and the rest of your income, sadly, is taxable.

Welcome to America!

Is that what it does? How is that percentage determined?

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.”


Jalal ad-Din Rumi

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Filed: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Country: Russia
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If this is what TurboTax does, then TurboTax is not correct.

Is that what it does? How is that percentage determined?

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Is that what it does? How is that percentage determined?

That's not exactly how it works. The max you can subtract is 96,000. So lets say your earnings converted to US dollars is 100,000. You exceed the max by 4,000. So that's taxable for sure. But the only way you get the maximum is by being in your country abroad the entire year.

stayed/resided/lived abroad the entire year = 100% = $96,000 to exclude

stayed/resided/lived abroad 3/4 year = 75% = $72,000 allowed to exclude

stayed/resided/lived abroad 1/2 year = 50% = $48,000 allowed to exclude

stayed/resided/lived abroad 1/3 year = 33% = $32,000 allowed to exclude

That's why the form wants to know the days abroad, ie. Jan 1 to POE date. If your number of days abroad was 227 days, then---

227/365 (days in a year) = 62.1% of the year abroad

62.1% of the max $96,000 is $59,704. Thus a person abroad 227 days only gets to exclude $59,704.

If that person made $100,000, then 100,000 - 59,704 exclusion = $40,296 taxable.

A very high wage earner may not benefit from filing jointly with a USC spouse. But again, if they left their country and job halfway through the year, they may not have earned as much in 2011 as they normally would have. That's why we say figure the USC's return Married Filing Separately AND Married Filing Jointly with worldwide income. Then pick the status that gives the lowest taxation. Either way is legal. If the immigrant did not work in the US in 2011, they do not have to file a tax return or be on the spouse's return. In most cases it's beneficial, but not always.

Edited by Nich-Nick

England.gifENGLAND ---

K-1 Timeline 4 months, 19 days 03-10-08 VSC to 7-29-08 Interview London

10-05-08 Married

AOS Timeline 5 months, 14 days 10-9-08 to 3-23-09 No interview

Removing Conditions Timeline 5 months, 20 days12-27-10 to 06-10-11 No interview

Citizenship Timeline 3 months, 26 days 12-31-11 Dallas to 4-26-12 Interview Houston

05-16-12 Oath ceremony

The journey from Fiancé to US citizenship:

4 years, 2 months, 6 days

243 pages of forms/documents submitted

No RFEs

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Filed: Citizen (apr) Country: Finland
Timeline

That's not exactly how it works. The max you can subtract is 96,000. So lets say your earnings converted to US dollars is 100,000. You exceed the max by 4,000. So that's taxable for sure. But the only way you get the maximum is by being in your country abroad the entire year.

stayed/resided/lived abroad the entire year = 100% = $96,000 to exclude

stayed/resided/lived abroad 3/4 year = 75% = $72,000 allowed to exclude

stayed/resided/lived abroad 1/2 year = 50% = $48,000 allowed to exclude

stayed/resided/lived abroad 1/3 year = 33% = $32,000 allowed to exclude

That's why the form wants to know the days abroad, ie. Jan 1 to POE date. If your number of days abroad was 227 days, then---

227/365 (days in a year) = 62.1% of the year abroad

62.1% of the max $96,000 is $59,704. Thus a person abroad 227 days only gets to exclude $59,704.

If that person made $100,000, then 100,000 - 59,704 exclusion = $40,296 taxable.

A very high wage earner may not benefit from filing jointly with a USC spouse. But again, if they left their country and job halfway through the year, they may not have earned as much in 2011 as they normally would have. That's why we say figure the USC's return Married Filing Separately AND Married Filing Jointly with worldwide income. Then pick the status that gives the lowest taxation. Either way is legal. If the immigrant did not work in the US in 2011, they do not have to file a tax return or be on the spouse's return. In most cases it's beneficial, but not always.

Thank you Nich-Nick- really glad to have you here in this forum, your insights save the rest of us a lot of headaches! :thumbs:

“The minute I heard my first love story I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They're in each other all along.”


Jalal ad-Din Rumi

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