road417king

It downloads my brokerage statements /1099s straight into Schedule D. What a time saver.

The only problem with that is that most of my stock sales are the result of ESPP and that never downloads correctly so I end up having to do manual tweaking regardless.

As for using the premium edition, I typically read what the TurboTax "what this version offers" and go with the one that covers all that I need. Also the deduction finder does help to remind me of donations I've made through the year so I find that useful as well.

Thanks!

Mike

Sounds good.

How about pictures?

I recommend pictures too. I put about ten photos from various things we did together, including photos of her with my family and me with her family, and I have thousands, literally, and will bring them with me (fortunately they're all in digital format), or supply them if they're requested as further evidence.

I also included photos from our wedding where we had friends and some of my family in attendence.

Publication 519 (2008), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens (No 2009 version) http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

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On a complicated side note: If you happen to have alot of investments and capital gains reported on Schedule D, your taxes are figured by a Captial Gains worksheet rather than the tax tables. Foreign spouses income does play a slight role in that so it's not as simple as show foreign income, then subtract it back out if you have lots of dividends and capital gains. Turbo Tax does all the work for you. I had to really dig and analyze how the foreign income played a role, only out of curiousity of how it worked. I still came out ahead filing jointly.

Thanks! This information is very much appreciated and I'm sure it will be quite helpful. I typically use TurboTax Premium because of itemized deductions, mortgage interest and the occasional stock sales so I'm hoping that it will do the right thing for me.

Thanks again!

Mike

I filed separately from my British Hubby and after putting his name in the spouse name box, I put "NRA" in his SSN box as he is a "Non-Resident Alien" at the time or around the time of filing.

This is what they told me to do when I phoned the IRS in Philly (Int'l office) with my questions, it is also what was recommended to me by another VJ member!

Last night while perusing the forums I found this thread (and asked for more information which was supplied):

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=235947

You might want to consider filing an ammended tax return if the information applies to you. That whole "filing separately" thing, as far as I'm concerned, is a scam perpetrated by the IRS because that gives them the ability to tax you at a higher rate and you really don't have any recourse. At least I've always thought so.

Thanks!

Mike

I don't think you get it. Her CAN income is not turned into US income. You just tell them on a form that she's a Canadian citizen and did not earn any money in the US.

Look at the Form 2555EZ

Part I (1) (first question) is where she says she is a bonfide resident of another country and for how long. It's probably since birth to "present." Ok, you can skip the rest of Part I.

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The IRS can't. It's only a matter of following the laws of the US or making up your own way to do it. You don't owe any more taxes either way you do it.

Hi, can you tell me where you found this information? Is it on an IRS website or somewhre else? I'm in this same situation except that my wife is in Japan and I'd like to understand how this all works and do the right thing (we got married in November and are in the CR1 application process).

Thanks!

Mike

I'm looking at the tax forms right now, but I don't know what to write for my spouse's SSN!

The filing period is Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2009. We got married in late Jan. So to the IRS, that means she's been my wife for the whole year, and I can't possibly file as Single. Yet her CR1 is still being processed so she hasn't gotten here or gotten a SSN yet.

I am not asking for legal or tax advice. I'd like to know if anyone's been through the same situation (as I'm sure many CR1 filers on these forums have), and I'd like to know your experiences. Please share.

I'm actually in this same boat right now and have been doing some research in it. Keep in mind that this is not tax advise, its's sharing information that I've discovered.

One important thing to remember: Doesn't matter if you were married on January 1st or December 31st, it's just like having a baby, if it happened in the calendar year, the IRS counts it for the whole year. What you have to establish is residency determination for "resident alien" vs. "nonresident alien" status. And trust me, it's not like you can say "oh, my spouse hasn't been here half the year" and call it good, the IRS rules are very much slanted towards the IRS getting the most money they can.

That said, here's what I've found so far:

If your foreign born spouse has income and you file a joint return, you must also report her "worldwide" income to the IRS using a special form. I would *hope* that there is some way of indicating that she paid some kind of income taxes in the country where she was working, however I wouldn't put it past the IRS to tax you anyway. This would necessitate getting a tax ID.

A possibility: File an extension for your taxes instead of filling your taxes, that gives you until October 15th to file, if her CR1 comes through and she gets a tax ID, then you just have to deal with the worldwide income issue.

Here's a tax website I found that describes all this:

http://www.bnasoftware.com/News_Articles/A...on_Purposes.asp

So you really only have two choices (because lying on your taxes will get you fined and quite possibly some jail time, neither of which you want): File "married jointly" and deal with the above (world wide income reporting), or file "Married Separate" and eat the tax loss.

Either way, my recommendation is talk with a tax professional (not just your average tax preparer, but someone who has experience dealing with this kind of issue).

Good luck!

Mike

There is no intent for her to stay or get married during this time. Since she's a Japanese national, she can come here just with her passport.

My wife and I were married in November (she's also from Japan) and a short time later she was flying back to Japan. It's okay for you to get married when she visits because the important part of that statement is that there is no intent to *stay* here during that time.

We went this option because when I spoke with an immigration lawyer about the options, she told me that if my wife should need to go back to Japan in the event of a family emergency, under a K1 visa she would need to get permission to fly back where as if she comes here as a foreign born spouse on a K3 or CR1 visa, that restriction doesn't exist.

This is important because my wife has two daughters from a previous marriage. One is already in college, the other will be entering college in April, that along with a rather large family (brothers and sisters with kids, plus her parents), being able to return to Japan without worry was paramount.

Keep in mind that I'm simply repeating what an immigration lawyer told me, so if the information is wrong, then the lawyer was wrong.

Your two recent questions indicate you may be wise to study the VJ K1 guide carefully again or for the first time, as these questions are answered. Rest assured, we've been through the process too, so your pain is understood well. Study well, because if you don't, you'll never know what you didn't think to ask.

Yes, I noticed the link at the top of the page (sorry it's a busy interface and I suffer from ados {attention deficit ooh shiny!!!} sydrome) after I posted my questions but thank you for the support.

Mike

The VJ Wiki has an acronym list >>> http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/Acronym_Summary

Unless an original/certified copy is specified send a photocopy of the source document. Have original/cert. copy available at the interview in case the adjudicator wants to inspect it.

Thank you for both the link and the reply!

Mike

We had the same issue in Florida... We were married for 6 years and tried at 5 banks (Wachovia, B of America, Bank Atlantic, First Federal and one other I cant remember) they all said no... There are others here who have been successful in getting their SOs on the accounts without a SSN??? Someone said HSBC but we do not have one around us...

The guy I talked with at Bank of America in WA told me that I could add my wife to my account but I need her to sign the signature document, provide copies of her passport and drivers license etc. They use the number 300000000 to indicate a person from another country with no tax id. They also wanted her mother's maiden name, probably for security purposes.

I'm waiting for Seiko to mail me the signed form, I sent her a scan of it in email yesterday.

My credit union said pretty much the same thing.

Good luck!

Mike

Hey all,

According to the government website and various "instruction" guides they all say "copies of..." when mentioning birth certificates, civil marriage marriage certificates, etc and I was wondering if a simple photocopy is sufficient or should I get certified true copies for this initial filing?

Just trying to do the right thing so as to not have to wait any longer than I must.

Also, I was wondering if there was a glossary of acronyms on this site? I see many acronyms used and some I can find on the internet, others I cannot.

Yes, I've tried to use the search box but with no results.

Thanks!

Mike

Yes, I am a US citizen living in the US and I have to submit passport photos as well.

Than you for the answer, I was wondering if perhaps I was reading it incorrectly or if there was a typo in the directions. Just making sure.

Hopefully will have my I-130 in the mail next week with a ton of other docs. I won't say it's like giving birth but wow is it painful, especially with my wife being in Japan and having to coordinate with her while she works roughly 15 hours a day as an English teacher.

Thanks again!

Mike

I'm trying to understand the documents and the instructions for the I-130, and it says that I need to submit passport style photos for me (I'm a US citizen living in the US) and for my spouse (she's Japanese living in Japan at this time) and then it says to write our alien registration numbers, if known, on the back of each photo.

Do I really need to submit passport style photos of myself, a US citizen by birth living in the US? It seems a curious requirement.

Also my wife has two daughters from a previous marriage, one is in college the other will be in college in April with no intention of coming to the US for the forseeable future, yet section C says to list all children. Even children who are off in college and won't be coming over with their mother once she has permission? Again, seems strange that they would want this excess information.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Mike Poz