filing as single on IRS for more than 1 year

[murfur 0]

i am giving you all the info regarding my situation, at this moment i dnt even know where to start and what question should i be asking. so please bare with me.

my post on reddit give you a info https://www.reddit.com/r/IRS/comments/5j3xhr/my_taxes_were_filed_wrongfully_for_past_3_years/?ref=share&ref_source=link

i have read a thread here from which i concluded that i must inform on my income tax form whether i want to file separately, jointly or if got a kid so i can file as head of household( i dnt have kids) if i am married. SINGLE is not an option for a married person.

in my situation is i am unemployed, and i think i can file married filing separately since my husband never visited US nor does he have any US based income???

i want to know if i can change my filing status after 3 years declaring my marital status as single? i read about amended return but can someone explain like i am five.

obama care only started two years ago in 2014 and i received the benefit by declaring myself as single. what should do about this ?

i am now enrolled in FAFSA , and since i filled my self as single i received the grant on that basis. i havent yet use this grand. https://www.reddit.com/r/financialaid/comments/5j4071/i_applied_for_aid_but_can_i_cancel_my_application/

if you need any more info on my situation to help me fix this issue do ask. as i am now in panic mode. and i dnt want my family or husband to feel what i am feeling at the moment. total helpless. i am frm a middle class family and have no criminal record either. i dnt want to ruin anything.

[Ryan H 3,790]

Moved from IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures to Tax & Finances During US Immigration forum.

[Villanelle 4,121]

Oh my- I dont know why no one has responded to this yet (??) Seems like it would be a hot topic...

Anyway- You certainly created quite a situation for yourself!

I did read through ALL the stuff you linked (as well as some other stuff) and Pushbrk is a very educated man. I am inclined to side with him on the issue of whether or not the IRS specifically cares if you file as single instead of married. But please note I said the IRS caring. There are many other issues and agencies at play here that have an interest in your filing status and they do care!

So starting with USCIS- its very hard to prove a bonafide marriage when you file taxes as single.

Moving on to Obamacare- you probably do not realize (or else you wouldnt have done it I assume) BUT if you are legally married in order to get 'credits' (which you have because thats the benefit that makes your premium lower) you MUST and its a big MUST file a joint return with your spouse. They give you credits based on your joint income. They will not care if your spouses income is in another country, if you live apart or anything like that...

FASFA is the same way as Obamacare... Your grant amount depends on household size and income of everyone...

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So you are going to need to fix this. Its not going to pretty but it can be fixed.

Starting with FASFA- I just amended my kids fasfa cause I didnt understand the whole parent married question. I thought they meant me and her bio dad so I said divorced, but they meant my current marital status which is re-married. There is a way to log in and amend your previous years fasfa. I believe somewhere on the website is a phone number. Call them for assistance. (if you cant find it or get stuck in the website, post back and I will log in and try to find some specific info for you okay?)

For the obamacare+taxes....unfortunately when you amend your tax return to the correct married filing jointly (which you will have to do) because you took the tax credit improperly. I mean if it was just a USCIS tax issue you wouldnt have to amend them unless you were doing so for bonafide marriage proof. But right now you fraudulently obtained obamacare credits and its better for you to amend your return and fix it then for them to find out and come after you!

So when you refile as married filing jointly- you need to add your spouses income. He wont be taxed because he doesnt live here. Its going to be a complicated return and you will need to hire an accountant to prepare it for you honestly. They will recalculate the proper amount of credits you shouldve gotten (if any) and any overpayment you will OWE... (sorry)

You can not file as married separately. I mean technically you can, but if you do so there is NO CHANCE for you to get ANY credit from obamacare so you will have to pay back 100% of it.

How much income does your spouse make overseas? I ask because if its a lot then you wont get any obama credits and will owe the 100%. So you may think well then Ill just do the married separate return, but while the married joint return will be more complicated it will be stronger evidence for USCIS. If youre going to end up paying back 100% of the credits you might as well get strong evidence for USCIS while you are at it. If his income isnt that much you may end up paying back less then 100% of what you got.

While you can amend a return yourself- its no different then filing normal taxes- just a tax form you fill out, because of the issues of the obama credits and the foreign income exclusion. An acct will probably charge anywhere from 100-300hr, so maybe a bill of 1-2k?

[murfur 0]

Oh my- I dont know why no one has responded to this yet (??) Seems like it would be a hot topic...

Anyway- You certainly created quite a situation for yourself! yes

also the tax consultant firm i was using since the i filed for my first tax , i found out today that the owner mr.benjamin pleaded guilty for $18m fraud last year in orlando. he is the one who told us to not worry about it and i dnt remember it correctly he confirmed that w2 form allow me to write myself single, as my husband is a foreign national. and thats what i did when i filled my two w-2 forms.

I did read through ALL the stuff you linked (as well as some other stuff) and Pushbrk is a very educated man. I am inclined to side with him on the issue of whether or not the IRS specifically cares if you file as single instead of married. But please note I said the IRS caring. There are many other issues and agencies at play here that have an interest in your filing status and they do care!

So starting with USCIS- its very hard to prove a bona fide marriage when you file taxes as single. so if i amend my filing status now it won't be an issue when i file my USCIS documents. right?

Moving on to Obamacare- you probably do not realize (or else you wouldnt have done it I assume) BUT if you are legally married in order to get 'credits' (which you have because thats the benefit that makes your premium lower) you MUST and its a big MUST file a joint return with your spouse. They give you credits based on your joint income. They will not care if your spouse's income is in another country, if you live apart or anything like that... i am willing to pay back any or all amount, i just dnt want to go to jail

today i went to a health care assistance office and they told me since i was unemployed all this time i might get the exemption.

FASFA is the same way as Obamacare... Your grant amount depends on household size and income of everyone... i am currently living with my parents but i am in my early 30s, so i am considered as an independant (mature adult ) , my father is the only one working currently.

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So you are going to need to fix this. Its not going to pretty but it can be fixed. how long will it take to fix it? :s

Starting with FASFA- I just amended my kids fasfa cause I didnt understand the whole parent married question. I thought they meant me and her bio dad so I said divorced, but they meant my current marital status which is re-married. There is a way to log in and amend your previous years fasfa. I believe somewhere on the website is a phone number. Call them for assistance. (if you cant find it or get stuck in the website, post back and I will log in and try to find some specific info for you okay?) thank you so so much.

can i cancel my fafsa application for now? i haven't use the amount (it isnt transferred to my account yet since i was unable to submit my transcript so i paid for my courses with my own credit card) if i call them tomorrow or went to college will they be able to cancel my financial aid or postpone it until i fix my issues with IRS? i started doing the changes but when i choose the option of married it ask me what IRS filing status was for 2015 and they copy the data automatically from IRS. and according to IRS data i am single.

For the obamacare+taxes....unfortunately when you amend your tax return to the correct married filing jointly (which you will have to do) because you took the tax credit improperly. I mean if it was just a USCIS tax issue you wouldnt have to amend them unless you were doing so for bonafide marriage proof. But right now you fraudulently obtained obamacare credits and its better for you to amend your return and fix it then for them to find out and come after you! i couldn't find any help on healthcare website to file for correction? or it will also be done by IRS?

So when you refile as married filing jointly- you need to add your spouse's income. He wont be taxed because he doesnt live here. Its going to be a complicated return and you will need to hire an accountant to prepare it for you honestly. They will recalculate the proper amount of credits you shouldve gotten (if any) and any overpayment you will OWE... (sorry)

You can not file as married separately. I mean technically you can, but if you do so there is NO CHANCE for you to get ANY credit from obamacare so you will have to pay back 100% of it.

How much income does your spouse make overseas? he work in middle east and currently he is earning around $48k annually , but i ask him to find all data from previous years too. I ask because if its a lot then you wont get any obama credits and will owe the 100%. So you may think well then I'll just do the married separate return, but while the married joint return will be more complicated it will be stronger evidence for USCIS. If youre going to end up paying back 100% of the credits you might as well get strong evidence for USCIS while you are at it. If his income isnt that much you may end up paying back less then 100% of what you got.

While you can amend a return yourself- its no different then filing normal taxes- just a tax form you fill out, because of the issues of the obama credits and the foreign income exclusion. An acct will probably charge anywhere from 100-300hr, so maybe a bill of 1-2k? i feel that my IRS amend will be easy since i have to submit a W-7 for each year and file jointly and treat my husband as a resident alien for tax purposes. he will have to obtain ITIN through W-7 ? form. also what other forms we will be needing as a foreign national to provide his salary information? any idea? w-7 form just require us to tell the name of the company.

i was unemployed for most my stay in US i might not have to pay any taxes ( i only worked for like 6 month in total here). now for the accountant i have no clue who to look for? the accountant will be helping with both obamacare issue and IRS ?

and lastly thankyou for the response, i was worried that i won't get any reply at all.

Edited December 20, 2016 by murfur

[murfur 0]

TODAY'S UPDATE : i withdrew from my college application today, so i won't be using FAFSA. at least something is fixed.

[Villanelle 4,121]

I dont really understand what you mean when you say you withdrew from your college application today? Once you submit the fasfa you can only make changes to it, you cant withdraw it. I understand what you are saying about how it automatically gets the tax info loaded for you... You can try to go in and delete the school you listed. Im not sure if it will let you have the application with no school- if it doesnt then put another school you wont be attending as a place holder for now just to be safe. This way theres no chance the fasfa sends any money to your current school until your IRS issues are handled and you can go back into fasfa and correct it again... (thats what I would do)
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Re- the taxes. Like I said before- according to what I read in the thread you had linked Pushbrk pretty much confirmed that the IRS does not have a problem with you filing single if you are married (it puts you in a higher bracket). So I dont know if your previous tax firm was necessarily negligent in telling you to do so. But whats done is done right?

The Obamacare stuff is going to be handled on your tax returns. There is nothing you can do to correct previous years through the marketplace. You do need to make sure that your current years application is done properly however. When you went to the healthcare assistance office what did they tell you about your current years application? (2017 benefits). The system just rolls over your info they have on file- you have to log on or call up or go to a center and make changes if you have any otherwise they think its all the same. If you are enrolled in a health plan (2016) it will leave you in that plan for the next year as long as its still offered.

I believe the window for selecting and making changes is closed now- I think it closed a few days ago. But for a situation like yours where incorrect info may be submitted they are able to go in and correct it. I dont think you will be able to do it yourself- someone on the phone will have to (or maybe a center- I dont know cause Ive never been to a center so I dont know if they just help you use the website or if they have more indepth access like the phone reps have).. But anyway- did they say anything in the center about your current years application (2017)? Did they change it to married and enter your husbands income? If not you need to get on that. Either on the phone or in person. Just make sure your application for '17 is correct showing you as married, that you will file a joint married return and both your incomes. This way you wont have problems again.

To file an amended return- yes you will need the ITIN. You only get one ITIN just like you only get one ssn. So I believe your packet would include the one w7 plus all the amended returns. To document income from overseas there really is no standard of proof they require you to attach like how for US income you get w2s or 1099s. So its up to you. You can include a copy of his taxes from overseas. You can include his last past stub of the year that shows year to date totals. My husband gets a pension from overseas. So we submit a copy of the 'award letter'/statement we get from them. We were told by numerous accountants that we should just send whatever and if it was an issue or we got pulled for an audit...well the IRS would then tell you specifically what more they want to prove the foreign income amounts. So send whatever you have that is solid proof. Use common sense. (but this is where I suggest the accountant- because youd want to add a letter explaining what you are sending and you just cant throw it in the packet- they do stuff where they label stuff all fancy like see attachment 1a etc)

You are also going to need a form and I dont know which one it is, but its a form to exempt your husband from needing to pay the penalty for NOT having healthcare in the US. I know it sounds silly but you are asking him to be treated as a resident for tax purposes so you can use the credits. As a resident he has to have health ins or pay a fine! ha ha. So theres another (!!) form to fill out that says I dont need US healthcare and shouldnt pay the fine because I dont really live in the US...

Im also thinking now that you are going to need the ITIN to correct things with the marketplace for the current year and if you send everything in a packet- not sure if it would impact how long before you know what the ITIN is ? not sure if it would be better to apply for the ITIN first alone? something to discuss with accountant.

But anyway- when you fill out the amended return there are pages about the obama credits and using the charts and stuff it would recalculate it all out. So it handles both the back obama credits and tax issue but not your future enrollment in obamacare. And like I said if you dont correct your current years application you may end up in the same mess again next tax year.

Im not sure how your combined income is going impact things. I know every state is a bit different with the obamacare benefits. Most give credits for people that earn between 16k and 48k over that and its either very little credit or no credit. Under that and its no credit or medicaid possibly. You could be right on the line for having too much income and owe 100% back. Even if you make it in under the line you will still be on the higher end of the income range and probably have a low credit so you'll end up paying back a large portion of the credits they gave you.. :/

Use google to find a CPA. You can tell from their websites what they specialize in. Some are just business tax accountants some do it all. You guys would be personal taxes. And I agree its not very complicated overall so the cost is going to be mainly for the hours spent putting it together by a professional and not really for complex legal tax issue navigation. But since the forms are all very specific in nature and there are so many of them- I mean if you miss one box or check one thing wrong it can be a disaster. So I really suggest to use a professional. At least have a consult with one. If you are going to do it alone- maybe search for tax forums? I know some are popular during tax season, not sure if they will be hot right now, but maybe?

Since this is the immigration forum-- when you amend the returns- you can then use them as bonafide marriage evidence for USCIS. Are you going to file for your spouse?