Foreign earned income exclusion for foreign spouse?

[sundizz 0]

We recently did our civil marriage in South Korea (October) and filed our i-130 in December. The next step will be the packet 3 and since we don't have much financial ties etc it'd be ideal if we could show a shared tax return in 2015 when she goes to her interview.

Unless, it is extremely complicated I'd like to do a married filing jointly. I had no income in 2015 (recently finished grad school), and she had income from her work in South Korea. Side note: My job starts Jan 2016 so the income support part should be fine.

As such, I'd like to file the MFJ (married filing jointly) status using the 1040 Tax Form and attaching Form W7 (Application for Taxpayer Identification Number) + Form 2555EZ

Obviously, we don't really want to pay any extra tax. She pays plenty of tax on her income already to South Korea. I assume it would be okay to simply put this under foreign earned income exclusion (she made less than 95k or whatever the max is).

Anyone else familiar with this process?

Glad to have found this forum. So much stuff to do - always feels nice to have company in this hectic and somewhat daunting process.

Thanks!

[MariaR323 199]

The MFJ option for a U.S. tax return is not that difficult to prepare. Sounds like you have a good basis of tax knowledge so I don't think you'd have any difficulties preparing it. The foreign income would be excluded from U.S. tax so it wouldn't increase your U.S. tax liability.

[Nitas_man 3,100]

We recently did our civil marriage in South Korea (October) and filed our i-130 in December. The next step will be the packet 3 and since we don't have much financial ties etc it'd be ideal if we could show a shared tax return in 2015 when she goes to her interview.

Unless, it is extremely complicated I'd like to do a married filing jointly. I had no income in 2015 (recently finished grad school), and she had income from her work in South Korea. Side note: My job starts Jan 2016 so the income support part should be fine.

As such, I'd like to file the MFJ (married filing jointly) status using the 1040 Tax Form and attaching Form W7 (Application for Taxpayer Identification Number) + Form 2555EZ

Obviously, we don't really want to pay any extra tax. She pays plenty of tax on her income already to South Korea. I assume it would be okay to simply put this under foreign earned income exclusion (she made less than 95k or whatever the max is).

Anyone else familiar with this process?

Glad to have found this forum. So much stuff to do - always feels nice to have company in this hectic and somewhat daunting process.

Thanks!

Not only do you get the foreign earned income exclusion, which is subtracted from income, but you also get a credit on the tax side (assuming you owe any taxes which in your case you will not) for taxes paid to the foreign country

So add all of the incomes, subtract foreign earned income ($105k? or so this year), subtract your standard exemption, subtract your standard deduction, subtract your exemptions, that's taxable income. It doesn't sound like you have anything to worry about but at least you have all of the paperwork nice and filed.

[Nich-Nick 3,354]

Not only do you get the foreign earned income exclusion, which is subtracted from income, but you also get a credit on the tax side (assuming you owe any taxes which in your case you will not) for taxes paid to the foreign country

You pick one or the other. You can't tax a tax credit for foreign taxes paid on income you have excluded.

Back to the original post. I don't see the point. You had zero income in 2015. You don't have to file a return. You are going to a lot of bother to create some evidence for an interview. When people live in separate countries, how much evidence can realistically be expected? Have you studied interviews in SA to know if that consulate is extremely harsh expecting commingling of money as proof? I looked up some reviews and several mentioned wedding photos and photos together were enough. Example http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=16857

When you set her up as a U.S. taxpayer, then she may also be required to file FBAR or FATCA on her foreign accounts. Also if she earned money from interest/investments, those are taxable income to include in the filing and not excludable. Maybe those aren't enough to put you jointly over the owing tax threshold, but the whole thing smacks of a frivolous filing when there is no IRS reason to file. Check it all out.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Nich-Nick

[sundizz 0]

Okay, makes sense. It feels a bit odd not filing a return...but it makes sense. There is no real reason I guess to really file except for that evidence part. And, it's not like they'd be expecting to see 2015 returns (since her interview is likely sometime in Feb or March).