No Spam

I've posted here a number of times before and found you all to be very
knowledgeable and helpful. Thank you.

Since it's tax time in the USA, I thought it might be helpful to
discuss some tax questions concerning marriage based visa's.

Does everyone here believe it is important to do the taxes to keep
from having problems with the Visa process later?

I do have a question that I haven't found a sufficient answer on.
Does anyone know if form 8843 needs to be filed or is it 8833? I have
found some web sights that say YES, but don't give reasons. I looked
at the tax form instructions but it is not clear. The information on
my fiancee's 1040NR-EZ seems to be nearly the same as what is being
asked on that form.

My fiancee was in the country in 2002 on a J-1 visa and left the
country before her status ran out.. Now I've been working on her
taxes and finally finished them. It was a pain to complete the
California state taxes but the federal taxes weren't too bad except
for figuring out the Tax Treaties document. (her country has a tax
treaty which allowed for a deduction on her federal taxes of $2000)
There was so little information about how to fill it out but finally I
stumbled through it. I filled out the 1040NR-EZ tax form for her.


In case anyone is wondering about how to fill out the California state
taxes.. this is what I did for my fiancee.
She only worked for one company and had a W2 from them. There were no
other deductions etc. However she used the Tax treaty on her Federal
taxes 1040NR-EZ. California requires that $2000 tax treaty be added
back into her California state taxes.

To do this... I had to use the 540NR Long Form.. NOT the 540NR short
form. You must fill out the Long form because it allows for adding
back the amount of the tax treaty. The short form doesn't have the
line necessary to do that. The California instructions are not clear
about this and I had to figure it out on my own. There is no
instruction that states that if someone adds back a tax treaty then
they must use form "540NR Long Form" but that seems to be the only
way to do it.

FIRST fill out the "Schedule CA 540NR"
this will instruct you to carry some numbers back to specific lines on
form 540NR Long Form.

On Schedule CA 540NR, fill in column A with what you specified on your
federal form.. then add back the tax treaty deduction you took..
placing that in column C.. and totalling it in column D. I think
copied the total to column E as well per instructions.

Once Schedule CA 540NR is finished, then fill out the rest of "540NR
Long Form."

Finally, with the 540NR Long Form, it is required to attach a copy of
your Ffederal tax form and schedules that were filed with the IRS. In
my fiancee's case, she will send a total of 6 pages... the first 2
pages being the 540NR Long form, signed and dated, with her W2
attached to page 1. Page 3 and page 4 is her Schedule CA 540NR.. and
lastly pages 5 and 6 are copies of her federal tax form 1040NR-EZ


Okay, I hope this may help someone in the future.


---------------------------
(NOTE: the information is given as-is. I am not a tax consultant, and
I am not saying it is accurate.. please consult the specific tax
instructions and or a tax preparer for expert tax advice.
Above intended as general commentary, not specific legal or tax
advice.

bobzy

Nope. I'm going through the visa process so that I will keep from having problems with my taxes later.

I keep claiming a spouse, even though I haven't been married for a few years. The visa petition is so that I can fix that problem with my taxes. Unfortunately, TSC seems to be foiling this plan . . .

bobzy

I just cannot resist this post.

Yes, of course it's important to do taxes to keep from having problems with the visa process later. Why the heck would anyone otherwise do their taxes?

or:

Nope. I just do my taxes for the simple minded hope of getting a refund.

or:

Nope, I just do my taxes to keep from going to federal prison.