mayb

Hello, I hope I'm posting this in the right forum! We are applying for my husband to move to the US. I need to fill out the I-864 but I have not yet filed my 2012 taxes.

Can I just do a 1040EZ? and can I just file married filing seperate? And how do I calculate what I made in 2012 since the UK tax year is April to April?

any help is greatly appreciated!!

hoffage123

It depends how straightforward your finances are as to what forms/schedules you need to complete. If they are straightforward then use 1040EZ. You will also need to possibly fill in a Form 2555 (Foreign Tax Credit) to exclude the 'foreign' income or there is another form (can't remember it sorry). There is a great wiki here on BE that my missus has used several times to file her taxes.

You can use April-April for your filing period, but as you are moving over to the US it would probably be easier to use January - December (although you can change the period later if you wished).

If you are doing April-April then use your P60 (the gross figure before taxes).

If you are doing January - December then assuming you earnt equal amounts every month then use the figure before tax and multiply by 12 then convert into USD. If your income is irregular add it all up over the year to get a total.

You can send it to the IRS at the US Embassy and attach a copy of the return with the original, asking them for a stamped receipt as proof of filing.

Hoffage

mayb

Hoffage always to the rescue! I will have a look for that wiki article! My income was really straight forward, I was employed at a pub for a few months and then a job with the local authority for the rest of the year.

For my income could I report all of my income from the pub and then just calculate when I earned in my second job until December?

hoffage123

Yes, that's right - if any of your bank accounts hit $10,000 or above during the year you will need to do FBAR as well. UK-Yankee Forums have a good sub-forum on taxation which is good for tax discussion.

Hoffage

MidAtlantic

Not exactly correct. The requirement is that if the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year an FBAR is required.

nun

No. If you are married filing separately you must use form 1040. You should use the 1040 anyway because if you have wages earned in the UK you will want to use the FEIE or FTC to reduce your US tax liability.

mayb

Ok so a 1040, ugh I hate all this tax terminology. Would it be worth paying a US tax specialist to do it for me or would that be a waste of money?

My account never came close to having $10,000 in it and I think for the entire year I may have made £5000. I did get a check a few months ago for £600 because I did not make enough to pay taxes, would I have to report that as well?

hoffage123

All worldwide income needs to be reported to the IRS one way or the other.

There is a lot of terminology, but it can be done on your own with a bit of effort. However, I know of one person on the forum who managed to get their local HR Block over in the US to help do theirs, think it cost them $100 or so.

You will still need to provide a complete copy of the most recent tax return with your affadavit information, but you could do that once it is all filed etc.

Hoffage

mayb

At this point I feel $100 may be worth it given all the other things I have on my mind in regards to the big move!

In regards to the I-864 would it be sufficient to provide tax transcripts for 2010 and 2011 and then an actual copy of the 2012 return with copies of my P-60's?

hoffage123

You are only under an obligation to provide a copy of or the actual authorised complete IRS return transcript for the most recent tax year. Although the ConOff may or may not request the others for the previous two tax years.

Yes - provide P-60, payslips, bank statements; anything that is relevant to establishing the income (even though it being UK income and non-continuing, it can't be used to meet the financial requirements). If the P-60 alone establishes that, then use it.

Hoffage

mayb

Ah ok, that's a relief I will only have to provide 2012. It wouldn't be much hassle I suppose to request a tax transcript but then I would need to have it mailed over, etc, etc. The guy sponsoring my husband is sending 3 years of tax returns to be safe but I'll just go with the one since I can't sponsor.

I may try to attempt filing out the 1040 on my own Saturday afternoon... will probably be back with more questions!

jeffreyhy

OMFG - I think you've set a new record!

Regards, JEff

hoffage123

Thanks Jeff - I think I actually figuratively in actuality did in completeness.

mayb

Typically how long does it take for the IRS at the embassy to send you back a stamped copy of your return?

hoffage123

Got mine back within a week (I provided a stamped addressed envelope). YMMV.