Sureyya Raza

I am just thinking about January when I will file income taxes. I am not
sure how I can file them with my husband living overseas. Do I file a joint
return? How do I list him if he doesnt have a social security number or an
A number?? Do I file as head of household? or single??

Does anyone have experience in this area??

THanks

cindyabs

Your husband needs a TIN which is the W7 form from the IRS. Go to their website.
How you file depends on what is advantageous to you tax wise.
We went to the US Embassy in London which had an IRS office, he turned in his application there and got the TIN mailed to him in less than a month.

Sureyya Raza

Does he need a TIN even if he has never been to the states???


"cindyabs" <member3791@british_expats.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Originally posted by Sureyya Raza
    > > I am just thinking about January when I will file income taxes.
    > > I am not
    > > sure how I can file them with my husband living overseas. Do I
    > > file a joint
    > > return? How do I list him if he doesnt have a social security
    > > number or an
    > > A number?? Do I file as head of household? or single??
    > >
    > > Does anyone have experience in this area??
    > >
    > > THanks
    > Your husband needs a TIN which is the W7 form from the IRS. Go to
    > their website.
    > How you file depends on what is advantageous to you tax wise.
    > We went to the US Embassy in London which had an IRS office, he
    > turned in his application there and got the TIN mailed to him in less
    > than a month.
    > --
    > Posted via http://britishexpats.com

Gin

Yes

Mrt

Only if a joint return is filed. The other option for a married person
is to file as married filing separately.

Gin wrote:
    > Originally posted by Sureyya Raza
    >
    >
    >>Does he need a TIN even if he has never been to the states???
    >

Only if a joint return is filed. The other option is to file as married,
filing separately. Of course, it might be more beneficial to file
jointly, so then he would have to have a TIN if he doesn't qualify for a
SSN.

jeffreyhy

Sureyya,

I have some of the same questions, because my wife is overseas also.

So I have applied for an ITIN for her, and as soon as I have that in hand and my W-2 I will visit my tax accountant....

Regards, JEff

superdesi

Jeff,

I sent in a W7 application on October 15th and still have not heard anything. What is the normal processing timeframe?

When did you sent in your W7?

Simon&Vik

According to HunterGreen in thread: http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...postid=1013671

the US spouse can still file as head of household if a few criteria are met?

All of the following:
1) being unmarried or considered unmarried at the last day of the year
2) paid more of half the cost of keeping up a home for the year
3) a qualifying person (like unmarried minor child) lived with you for more than half the year

One is considered unmarried if all of the following apply:
1) file a seperate return
2) paid more of half the cost of keeping up a home for the year
3) your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year
4) your home was the main home for your qualifying person (like your child) for more than half the year
5) you must be able to claim an exemption for the child

One is also considered unmarried if the spouse was a non-residential alien at any time during the year and you choose not to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien.

All of the above information was found on http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

I need to check w/my local office though, because he did live w/me, or at least "stay in my house" for 4 wks out of the last year... So I don't know if that will mess up #3 or not...

meauxna

4 weeks is a visit; I've had vacations longer than that! I'd say (don't know which is which of you) that the alien spouse was a 'non resident alien'.

Simon&Vik

meauxna, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure you're right!
YAY! That means I get a good refund for one last year!
(God bless the Earned Income Credit!!)

(Oh, and Simon's the non-res alien. )

jeffreyhy

Desi,

I sent my W7 in early November.

I understand that the normal processing time is 4-6 weeks. Given the Thanksgiving/Christmas/ New Year holiday season, I will start to worry in mid January.

Regards, JEff

Buendia

I am in the same situation.
I'm going to try the taxes two ways - married filing jointly (with a foreign income exclusion for my husbands income - because he'll pay the taxes in Ireland) and married filing separately just to see which way results in the bigger refund. My husband has a SSN from several years ago when he worked in the US, but if he didn't I'd get him an ITIN just in case...

SundarV

First of all it is almost taking 8-9 weeks. I applied for ITIN number for my wife in mid sept and got the letter about a week ago.

Whether to file married jointly or separately depends on how beneficial it is from tax perspective. If you file jointly, you have to get a letter from your spouse saying that he/she would like to be treated as resident alien for tax purposes. The only caveat is that spouse income has to be declared.

One way the income would not be counted is:
if a residen alien is present for at least 330
days outside of the US for 12 months consecutive, the foreign income
exclusion in $80,000.00.


Please read IRS publication 519, it gives a good overview of the situation.


Hope this helps
Sundar