Filing tax returns as Married filing separately or single

[Chancy 6,233]

4 hours ago, ruagod said:

Did you also file a MFS tax return for tax year 2020?  Or did you not file at all?  I am in a similar situation.  I am USC and my Thai wife is not USC and has no income, so presumably does not need to file a US tax return.

 

To clarify -- my USC husband filed HOH with dependent child for tax year 2019, then MFS with NRA spouse for tax year 2020.  Then I got my SSN in 2021, so we filed MFJ for tax year 2021.  We also amended our returns to MFJ for tax years 2019 & 2020, even if I was not obligated to file US taxes for those years.  Because I had no employment income, MFJ filing was the most financially favorable option for us.

 

[AfroKing 48]

2 hours ago, Chancy said:

 

To clarify -- my USC husband filed HOH with dependent child for tax year 2019, then MFS with NRA spouse for tax year 2020.  Then I got my SSN in 2021, so we filed MFJ for tax year 2021.  We also amended our returns to MFJ for tax years 2019 & 2020, even if I was not obligated to file US taxes for those years.  Because I had no employment income, MFJ filing was the most financially favorable option for us.

 

For the year 2020 that you filled MFS, did you prepare your form 1040 yourself or had a tax preparer do it for you? I have gone through the form and the instructions seems pretty straight, that i think one could easily navigate but if a tax preparer is recommended, then we might look that way. My wife filed wrongly(single) for the past year which we are looking to amend later, we didn't know we could avoid the ITIN stress and just write NRA.

 

Please find the attached form 1040. The space i marked with orange ink is where the Alien spouse's name and the NRA goes right? Thanks

[Chancy 6,233]

1 hour ago, AfroKing said:

For the year 2020 that you filled MFS, did you prepare your form 1040 yourself or had a tax preparer do it for you?

 

Self-prepared the 2020 tax return using tax software.  No tax preparer.

 

2 hours ago, AfroKing said:

Please find the attached form 1040. The space i marked with orange ink is where the Alien spouse's name and the NRA goes right?

 

If you file MFS with NRA spouse for tax year 2021, spouse's name + "NRA" should be listed at the space provided just under the filing status checkboxes --

 

[Luchhee 0]

15 hours ago, Chancy said:

*** Moved from IR1/CR1 Progress Reports to Tax & Finances During US Immigration, where similar topics are discussed ***

 

 

We were in a similar situation back in 2019/2020.  We were married in 2019, but I still lived overseas and had no SSN.  So my USC husband filed as HOH with dependent child for 2019, then MFS with NRA spouse in 2020.  No documents were required from me for my husband's MFS tax filing.  When I finally moved to the US and got my SSN, we filed to amend our 2019 & 2020 returns to MFJ.

 

Oh Thank you. This is exactly what we would do other than filing and having any issues during the interview. 

[AfroKing 48]

On 10/9/2022 at 4:56 AM, Chancy said:

 

Self-prepared the 2020 tax return using tax software.  No tax preparer.

 

 

If you file MFS with NRA spouse for tax year 2021, spouse's name + "NRA" should be listed at the space provided just under the filing status checkboxes --

 

Can you please recommend the software you used? My wife uses Turbo tax but it won't allow her proceed unless a valid SSN is put into that space and it won't allow her type Letters but numbers only. We filed her 2021 taxes already but due to the backlogs at my consulate, the next tax season will be due before i have my interview, so we'll probably need the 2022's at that time. I'm asking these questions ahead.

 

I assume you used the software to calculate, downloaded the filled form and then sent it to IRS via post/fedex etc right? Thanks for your response 

[Wuozopo 4,285]

55 minutes ago, AfroKing said:

Can you please recommend the software you used? My wife uses Turbo tax but it won't allow her proceed unless a valid SSN is put into that space and it won't allow her type Letters but numbers only. We filed her 2021 taxes already but due to the backlogs at my consulate, the next tax season will be due before i have my interview, so we'll probably need the 2022's at that time. I'm asking these questions ahead.

 

I assume you used the software to calculate, downloaded the filled form and then sent it to IRS via post/fedex etc right? Thanks for your response 

I don’t know of any software that will accept an efile without a SSN or ITIN. It has been debated and tried by folks in this forum for years. So use Turbo and fix all errors ignoring the one for SSN. Then print a paper copy and mail, you can probably fill out the form completely this way. The old instructions of writing NRA in the SSN field have changed. 
 

Tip: In Turbo you have to name your spouse with the NRA as part of her name when doing the initial biographic entries because the software uses that entry to auto-populate the field you see.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Wuozopo

[AfroKing 48]

On 10/14/2022 at 3:57 AM, Wuozopo said:

I don’t know of any software that will accept an efile without a SSN or ITIN. It has been debated and tried by folks in this forum for years. So use Turbo and fix all errors ignoring the one for SSN. Then print a paper copy and mail, you can probably fill out the form completely this way. The old instructions of writing NRA in the SSN field have changed. 
 

Tip: In Turbo you have to name your spouse with the NRA as part of her name when doing the initial biographic entries because the software uses that entry to auto-populate the field you see.

By your logic, the SSN space should be left blank since the "NRA" status gets attached to the name as illustrated, right? I have tried looking up your claim, "The old instructions of writing NRA in the SSN field have changed" but couldn't find any thing related. As this seems a deviation from the usual practice, by most folks here (writing NRA on the SSN column), i'll like some official link pointer for assurance. Thanks

[Wuozopo 4,285]

4 hours ago, AfroKing said:

By your logic, the SSN space should be left blank since the "NRA" status gets attached to the name as illustrated, right? I have tried looking up your claim, "The old instructions of writing NRA in the SSN field have changed" but couldn't find any thing related. As this seems a deviation from the usual practice, by most folks here (writing NRA on the SSN column), i'll like some official link pointer for assurance. Thanks

The place to start is the instructions for Form 1040.
2021 Instructions because 2022 is not released yet https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

Start Reading on Page 14

 

For comparison 2020 instructions https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040gi--2020.pdf

Start reading on page 14.  It reads differently.

 

All you really need to enter in that blue area under filing status is NRA, but I would enter the name too just because when you are going through immigration, I think it would be beneficial to at least name your spouse if not filing a joint return. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by Wuozopo