chuckandkim

Hey Folks,

This morning, I've been trying to figure out how to go about doing up our taxes this year (joint v. separate), and I had a few questions, even after going through Gimy's post (thanks, Gimy! ). First things first, I'm the USC, and my wife Almira is an NRA, although we can treat her as a resident alien by signing a statement saying that she wants to be treated as such. She worked in Kazakhstan for the first half of the year, and then quit her job and moved to the U.S. in August, and hasn't been able to work yet 9no EAD yet.)

Anyway, our options and their associated problems as I understad them, are:

1) Treat her as a RA, file jointly. To do this, though, we need to somehow get her tax records from Kazakhstan. The problem with this is that the system there doesn't have tax returns as we know them in the U.S.--there, the govt. takes your tax money, and doesn't return anything. Because of this, there are no forms for individuals stating things like wages earned and taxes taken. What could we provide as proof to the IRS, if they request it? Would an official letter on company letterhead be sufficient? Also, we probably will need to get stuff translated, and we need to know what qualifies as a "certified translation" under this IRS's "Revenue Ruling 67-308 in Cumulative Bulletin 1967-2".

2) Treat spouse as NRA. According to Gimy's post, I'll probably need to file as "Married, file separately". Under this option, my understanding is that Almira wouldn't have to file a U.S. return since she has no U.S. income. However, I can't claim her as a dependent, since she isn't a resident of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. Is this correct?

I'm thinking that (1) is the better option, since we'll get more dedections, although since I didn't make so much last year (~$17k), I'd still expect to get back a good chunk of the taxes I paid for 2005.

Thanks for your help in advance!

--Ben.

Hi Ben,

I file for Kim and I "married jointly" NRA. I won't be entering her W-2 or any income prior to her arrival here in the US. WHY? She wasn't married to me until JUNE 2005, as far as I know the IRS can not tax someone who isn't a residence of the US during the prior tax year, and only taxable the amount of income the individual earns in the duration of his/her present in the States.

Kim wasn't married to me before June 2005, wasn't a residence until June 2005. How could they TAX her?

Am I wrong?

I'm wondering and very interested to know if anyone has done the following:

- Deduct ALL costs of your fiance's moving here to the US. This will include: 2 flight tickets for me to go back and bring her here, mileage, and hotel.

- Moving from Hochiminh City to Philadelphia, PA.

Cost total: $3000.

Can I do this? Given I do have all the receipts to show the cost of moving here. (ticket receipts, lodging, toll-receipt, gas receipt)

Thank you,

Chuck and Kim

Somone told me that for K1 Visa the petitioner alone must meet minimum income requirements and CANNOT have a co-sponsor. Is this true?

3AD

False!

You, petitioner can have a co-sponsor if your income doesn't meet the poverty guideline.