Married Filing Jointly - Green Card in Feb.

[tampa83 78]

I have been reading the IRS 519 publication for more than an hour trying to make sense of how to file our taxes jointly. My husband arrived here in July (less than 183 day rule for the healthcare exemption). He got his green card Feb of this year...I am trying to figure out the Resident Alien status or Non-Status. Correct me if I'm wrong, he would be Non-Resident Alien?

 

Also, his earned income in a foreign country, where can I include it? I cannot do a W-2 form because we don't have his  Employer Identification Number (EIN) - FreeTaxUSA isn't accepting the income without an EIN. 

 

I am trying to do this without going to a tax preparer. Any guidance would be helpful. 

[Cryssiekins 976]

38 minutes ago, tampa83 said:

I have been reading the IRS 519 publication for more than an hour trying to make sense of how to file our taxes jointly. My husband arrived here in July (less than 183 day rule for the healthcare exemption). He got his green card Feb of this year...I am trying to figure out the Resident Alien status or Non-Status. Correct me if I'm wrong, he would be Non-Resident Alien?

 

Also, his earned income in a foreign country, where can I include it? I cannot do a W-2 form because we don't have his  Employer Identification Number (EIN) - FreeTaxUSA isn't accepting the income without an EIN. 

 

I am trying to do this without going to a tax preparer. Any guidance would be helpful. 

There are threads here for the statement to be considered a resident alien for the tax year, and for the form for declaring worldwide income.

 

For me, personally, doing taxes hurts my brain, and I was used to having my brother prepare things when I lived in Canada, so for our first filing after I arrived in the US we did pay a preparer who knew about these things, just to be safe.  It was less than $200, so while that is pricey, to us it was worth it to not deal with the headache.

 

Again, search for the threads on here relating to the above noted.  MANY folks here did it themselves successfully, and there’s probably a lot of helpful info in there.

[tampa83 78]

23 minutes ago, Cryssiekins said:

There are threads here for the statement to be considered a resident alien for the tax year, and for the form for declaring worldwide income.

 

For me, personally, doing taxes hurts my brain, and I was used to having my brother prepare things when I lived in Canada, so for our first filing after I arrived in the US we did pay a preparer who knew about these things, just to be safe.  It was less than $200, so while that is pricey, to us it was worth it to not deal with the headache.

 

Again, search for the threads on here relating to the above noted.  MANY folks here did it themselves successfully, and there’s probably a lot of helpful info in there.

Thank you - I might have to go that route, after searching I found out FreeTaxUSA doesn't support foreign income 😕 

What a headache. 

[nullaccount234 882]

There are three ways to file taxes as a tax resident alien if you are not USC. Green card test, substantial presence test, and first year choice. He doesn't meet the green card test for 2018. You say he doesn't meet the substantial presence test, but double check - some days from 2017 and 2016 are also counted into the 183 day requirement.

 

The third option is simply that you choose to. I don't know the exact requirements but I think people married to USCs can do this. Research the IRS website for the exact specifics. After doing that, you can MFJ, use 2x the standard deduction, and exclude foreign earned income in 2555EZ.

 

We're also trying to do it ourselves, it's tricky, but I think we're starting to get it under control...

[Cryssiekins 976]

3 minutes ago, tampa83 said:

Thank you - I might have to go that route, after searching I found out FreeTaxUSA doesn't support foreign income 😕 

What a headache. 

It is a headache. 

 

My last employer in Canada had a program in HR where you could “self fund” time off work.  So when we first got engaged, I took advantage of it.  By the time I had visa and hand, I had just over 6 months worth of savings, that they paid me bi-weekly.  Definitely helped with the no working until the EAD came, but it messed up our taxes for 2 years.

 

For me, the headache of trying to sort it out was too much.

[geowrian 22,335]

12 minutes ago, LizM said:

The third option is simply that you choose to. I don't know the exact requirements but I think people married to USCs can do this.

Anybody married to a USC or LPR can elect to be treated as a US tax resident for the tax year. Being a US tax resident for the entire year is required for filing jointly.

Option 2 is to file separately, although in most cases this results in a greater tax liability.

[ST_RO 301]

6 hours ago, tampa83 said:

I have been reading the IRS 519 publication for more than an hour trying to make sense of how to file our taxes jointly. My husband arrived here in July (less than 183 day rule for the healthcare exemption). He got his green card Feb of this year...I am trying to figure out the Resident Alien status or Non-Status. Correct me if I'm wrong, he would be Non-Resident Alien?

 

Also, his earned income in a foreign country, where can I include it? I cannot do a W-2 form because we don't have his  Employer Identification Number (EIN) - FreeTaxUSA isn't accepting the income without an EIN. 

 

I am trying to do this without going to a tax preparer. Any guidance would be helpful. 

We just did exactly the same thing and luckily we had the full Turbotax version for free. If you'd like, send me a direct message and I will send you the numbers of the form we used to report my foreign earned income and the letter we sent to elect me as a resident for tax purposes. We had an appointment with the IRS this week because I had to apply for an ITIN because the SSA screwed everything up and I didn't get a SSN until my I-94 expired. Long story short, they accepted all of our paperwork.

[UnitedStatesGuy 0]

On 3/9/2019 at 10:47 PM, ST_RO said:

We just did exactly the same thing and luckily we had the full Turbotax version for free. If you'd like, send me a direct message and I will send you the numbers of the form we used to report my foreign earned income and the letter we sent to elect me as a resident for tax purposes. We had an appointment with the IRS this week because I had to apply for an ITIN because the SSA screwed everything up and I didn't get a SSN until my I-94 expired. Long story short, they accepted all of our paperwork.

Can I DM you for this as well? I don't see anywhere on turbotax to report foreign income and our IRS appointment is tomorrow!

[ST_RO 301]

1 hour ago, UnitedStatesGuy said:

Can I DM you for this as well? I don't see anywhere on turbotax to report foreign income and our IRS appointment is tomorrow!

Sure! Happy to help if I can.