lpdiver

Do any expenses involved in all of this process have any tax consequences?

jeffreyhy

lp,

Only those expenses that are paid to your tax preparer. (S)he may charge you extra the first year for the work required to include a non-resident or part-year resident alien spouse on your return.

Simon&Vik

What about if your spouse won't be here until possibly Jan 1 and definately won't have any US income until after Jan 1?

Mrtravel

lpdiver wrote:

    > Do any expenses involved in all of this process have any tax
    > consequences?

None of them are tax deductible if that is what you mean..

jeffreyhy

S&V,

Ask your tax accountant. The cost of the answer will be deductable.

Richard III

Simon&Vic -

My foreign born wife and I were married in October of 2002. My wife left soon thereafter to go back to Russia to serve out the remainder of her J1 visa obligation. On my 2002 taxes, I claimed my wife as a dependent, but not her child (my stepdaughter) because unless the child is from Canada or Mexico, one cannot do so. That is a discussion I'd rather not get into.

As a practical matter, if you are married at one minute to midnight on December 31st, you can claim your spouse as a dependent for the whole year, just as a child born before midnight on the 31st of December can be claimed for the whole year. Did I answer your question, or just raise more? If the latter, I'll try to make it up to you by answering more explicitly a precise question.


All the best to you and yours -

Richard III

Simon&Vik

Richard, that was helpful. Thank you.

As far as further specific questions:
Do I file "married" "Head of household" or something else?
Do I need to claim any of his UK income as our married income (or whatever)? I know there's not W-2 for him, but strictly by the book, should we include that?

I don't really have enough deductions to take anything but the standard deduction.
And I have always had the Earned Income Credit. (Yay for poor parents, eh? *sigh*)

samir1010

I have a question? I just got married to and am in the process of k3 for my wife. Can I file as married and take the deduction, if I can how do I file if she doesnt have a ss yet?

cindyabs

Samir,
I can't speak to how the tax system works for deductions, etc, BUT your wife can get a Taxpayer ID number. This is on the form W7 I believe from the IRS. There is an IRS office in the Embassy in London, where she can apply for one in person. We did that last year while I was over visiting my husband in November. Tell her NOT to go on a Friday however.

Rete

If you are married I don't believe the Head of Household applies any longer to you. You have to file Married either jointly or separately. That category mandates that you list your spouse's ss number and/or ITIN from the IRS. Yes you have to declare his worldwide but if it is under approx. $80,000 and he has paid taxes on it in the UK then it is put on and written off. You can read tax hints on the FAQ.

Rete

HunterGreen

I know you said that's a discussion you'd rather not get into, but... *smiling sweetly*

Seriously, your post freaked me the heck out and I did some research (which calmed me down ).

Would you mind setting my mind at ease further and tell me if I'm correct in assuming that this is the case for you because the stepdaughter is a) not (yet) considered a resident of the US and b) you didn't provide over half of her support in 2002?

If you don't want to answer on here, please PM me.

Thanks.

Elaine

HunterGreen

Actually, isn't it true that 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

Elaine

Richard III

samir1010 -

Yes, you can file as married, because, well, you ARE. You will need to file a W-7 form with the IRS and they will issue an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). That's all you need to file. Do a Google search for ITIN and IRS and you'll find all the resources you need. Just follow the instructions. My advice would be to get it started soon. They get bogged down after the first of the calendar year.

Richard III

Richard III

Elaine -

The ONLY reason I cannot claim my stepdaughter as a dependent on my 2002 taxes is because she doen't live in Canada or Mexico. Look it up in the IRS publications. It was a special rule carved out expressly for people in similar situations to mine EXCEPT that their stepchildren live in a US neighboring country. I think iit is unseemly to make the exception. That was all I meant by my remark. I don't begrudge individuals who are able to take advantage of the loophole, more power to them. I just think that anyone similarly situated should be able to take the same deduction.

Richard III

HunterGreen

Thanks for your reply Richard. To clarify my reason of asking - I got confused by your earlier post and started thinking that foreign stepchildren couldn't be claimed as dependents even if they lived in the US. How soon will your wife and stepdaughter be with you? I hope soon.

Elaine