To file jointly or not

[Chrisunknown 21]

First we will be getting this all looked over by a tax preparer but wanted to see how other people have gone about it as I see a lot of people who moved to California on here from the UK

 

I moved to America in July using the K1 visa got married and applied for the AOS and EAD which I got January 24th and my AOS interview is in a month

 

I worked in the UK jan-June 2018 but have not worked in USA due to not having my EAD until last week

 

Do we have to file a joint claim and then write off my UK income using the form 2555

 

How have everyone else done this

[Wuozopo 4,285]

3 hours ago, Chrisunknown said:

Do we have to file a joint claim and then write off my UK income using the form 2555

 

No you don't but you will probably do better on taxes if you do.

[Chrisunknown 21]

On 2/2/2019 at 11:55 AM, Wuozopo said:

 

No you don't but you will probably do better on taxes if you do.

Thank you 

 

We had a look at it both ways and if we do file jointly we get an exfra return just a lot more complicated but nothing we can't handle 

[geowrian 22,335]

Just now, Chrisunknown said:

We had a look at it both ways and if we do file jointly we get an exfra return just a lot more complicated but nothing we can't handle 

Exactly. It's an extra 30-60 min of work in most cases, but lets you instantly write off an extra $12.2k in income....in many cases resulting in thousands of dollars more in a refund.

[Chrisunknown 21]

17 minutes ago, geowrian said:

Exactly. It's an extra 30-60 min of work in most cases, but lets you instantly write off an extra $12.2k in income....in many cases resulting in thousands of dollars more in a refund.

Yep, just got to go over some small things with our tax person about the form 2555 and it should be done as the wording seems to be aimed at an American citizen 

 

[junkmart 320]

On 2/2/2019 at 10:53 AM, Chrisunknown said:

First we will be getting this all looked over by a tax preparer but wanted to see how other people have gone about it as I see a lot of people who moved to California on here from the UK

 

I moved to America in July using the K1 visa got married and applied for the AOS and EAD which I got January 24th and my AOS interview is in a month

 

I worked in the UK jan-June 2018 but have not worked in USA due to not having my EAD until last week

 

Do we have to file a joint claim and then write off my UK income using the form 2555

 

How have everyone else done this

You have the option for file MFS or MFJ.

 

We chose MFJ. Here is our situation. USC married to Mexican national in December 2018. Mexican national has income in Mexico from January 2018 to August 2018, and no income in the US. Mexican national passed the substantial presence test for 2018, and is therefore a Resident Alien for tax purposes. We filed a joint return based on worldwide income (USC US income + Mexican national income converted to USD). Used Foreign Tax Credit 1116 to deduct a portion of taxes paid in Mexico.