Head is going to explode! First year jointly married

[CharmD720 1]

I've researched and read everything and I can't find an actual answer. Please help, I'm literally making myself sick with this and going into a flare (autoimmune disorder) 

My wife arrived July 2017, we were married and now her i-94 is expired but that's fine.. We are going to do her AOS the minute these taxes are done!! I need to print it and include it in my AOS income (just trust me, I do). It says on IRS site that If u treat a non resident alien as a resident that a letter or something be attached with our names, addresses, and socials. I can't add anything if I e-file. I already called TurboTax twice and that's not helping. 

Oh yes we did get her a SSN when she got here (It says for work authorization only) which is fine I believe. 

Can we just Efile and not include this attachment they are asking for? 

The other question  is the Healthcare. At this point I'm just about giving up and willing to just pay the entire year $700 penalty for her not having health insurance even tho she didn't get here til July 2017..i guess that's fine and less confusion to just pay it and move on but I gotta make sure all else is OK. 

Last question did u use her married name or her old name on Tax forms? Her social had her old name but yesterday we went in and had It switched to new name but it will take 4 weeks for them to review it and send it to us but either way social security number is the same

 

Thank you so much for reading 

 

[MariaR323 199]

You can e-file without the attachment and if IRS asks for it later down the line then deal with it then. You would use the new name since that's what's going to be on record with the SSA.

 

As for healthcare, you would choose the non resident/citizen (I forget exactly the wording) exemption code for Jan-July and only be liable for the penalty for Aug-Dec (if no ins.).

 

Hope this helps.

 

Maria

 

[Excuse shortness/typos as posting from mobile device.]

[LittleLeaf 38]

Ive been digging into this myself as we'll be doing the same thing (I arrived Sept, still waiting on EAD). There are so many minute details to navigate. >.<

Despite being for 2016, Ive actually found this IRS doc quite helpful: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

They go through examples which I found really grounding. I'd suggest taking a peek at the Dual status section; I assume that marking your wife as such should do the trick in making sure she's only accounted for July through December.

 

 

 

[MariaR323 199]

The dual status reference is only if the foreign spouse is NOT going to be elected to be considered a full year resident for tax purposes.

 

The healthcare penalty is simple, just make sure you select the proper exemption code and you'll be fine. I just checked and it's exemption code C.

[Italian_in_NYC 259]

21 hours ago, LittleLeaf said:

Ive been digging into this myself as we'll be doing the same thing (I arrived Sept, still waiting on EAD). There are so many minute details to navigate. >.<

Despite being for 2016, Ive actually found this IRS doc quite helpful: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

They go through examples which I found really grounding. I'd suggest taking a peek at the Dual status section; I assume that marking your wife as such should do the trick in making sure she's only accounted for July through December.

 

 

 

If you arrived in September, you likely won't have enough days to qualify as a US Person. You clearly do not have any US-source income as you couldn't work, so you don't even have to file.

[mdrma720 1]

5 hours ago, MariaR323 said:

The dual status reference is only if the foreign spouse is NOT going to be elected to be considered a full year resident for tax purposes.

 

The healthcare penalty is simple, just make sure you select the proper exemption code and you'll be fine. I just checked and it's exemption code C.

It's just that by filing married jointly we are treating our spouse as citizens than getting to Healthcare section and saying they are not citizens (under example for exemption C it says: not a permanent citizen and not a temporary citizen) 

Have you done this before without problem? 

[mdrma720 1]

51 minutes ago, mdrma720 said:

It's just that by filing married jointly we are treating our spouse as citizens than getting to Healthcare section and saying they are not citizens (under example for exemption C it says: not a permanent citizen and not a temporary citizen) 

Have you done this before without problem? 

I found it!! I was able to uncheck the dates that she wasn't even in USA. I kept the ones (6 months) that she was here... Idk do you think it's safe to uncheck those as well and get no penalty at all Orr just be safe and keep it like it is?? I'm so thankful for you.. I read and looked everywhere for this 

[MariaR323 199]

1 hour ago, mdrma720 said:

I found it!! I was able to uncheck the dates that she wasn't even in USA. I kept the ones (6 months) that she was here... Idk do you think it's safe to uncheck those as well and get no penalty at all Orr just be safe and keep it like it is?? I'm so thankful for you.. I read and looked everywhere for this 

I would advise to do the right thing and only exempt your spouse for the months she's eligible to use the exemption for.

[mdrma720 1]

45 minutes ago, MariaR323 said:

I would advise to do the right thing and only exempt your spouse for the months she's eligible to use the exemption for.

I wasn't trying to scam the irs.. Idk if I'm allowed to use it for all year or if once she gets here that no longer applies.. Either way I'm happy now. Now if only the government would accept tax returns we could submit it and get our AOS Going, plus we could get a tax return and get a brand new nice bed!! So thank u everyone for helping me with that. If government would have accepted it yesterday I would have lost $350 and couldn't get us a nice new bed for my chronic inflammatory pain and my wives back has been hurting her on our current awful one. 

[doggieandsam 765]

mine exploded last night. my husband and i stayed up to 2am trying to figure the MFJ and foreign income exclusion. uggghhh.