Search the Community

How do you file your taxes online without an employer identification number? If your employer doesn't have this number, do you just file your taxes by paper and mail them in? How long does it take for you to get your tax returns?

Hi All: I have a job offer from a Chinese university for a 2 year position, and the HR Dept. there is telling me that I can claim an exemption from Chinese individual income taxes during my time there. (see below) One of the forms required to obtain this exemption is a Certification of US Tax Residency, which I would have to get from the US. I have 2 questions about this: 1. Has anyone else gotten this exemption from Chinese individual income taxes? 2. Because, as part of obtaining this exemption, I would have to certify that I am a resident of the US for tax purposes, would I no longer be eligible to use the Foreign Earned Income Credit? In other words, would I then have to pay US taxes on all my China-earned income below $80k? I would be extremely appreciative to receive guidance from anyone who has been through these issues. Thanks! Individual tax exemption Appointees from countries which have a tax agreement with Chinese government will be exempted from the Chinese individual tax for the first 2-3 years when he/she works at an institution in Mainland China.

Hello and thanks million to this website and its many helpful members? I have been living and sometimes working here in China for the last 12 years. I met my wife in my 3rd week here and we have been together ever since. I never planned to go back to the US, it was my dream to live and die here in the central kingdom, but now that our child is 5 and is already being influenced by the so called education system here I realise, as my mum said there is only one "i" in the word family and she deserves better... My main concern in filing the I-130 is not proving we are married or that I am a citizen, but my past, current and future income(s)?..aka the I-864... My family state side is all but broken after the Bush era..(all below poverty level) Although we will have a place to stay and the rental income from the family owns will be enough to survive, it is still below the amount required for a family of three.. What can one do if the have no cosponsor? Has anyone ever made it back with out one and no job stateside? I will be able to get one once I obtain my Acupuncture license... Thanks and Sorry for the negative nature of this my first post also I have been off the grid since 1992 (no 1040s filed)

Jesse, can you elaborate on when you would use the Form 1116, instead of Form 2555? Or can you use both forms at the same time? That is, can you "exclude" income through Form 2555, and take the Foreign Tax Credit on Form 1116 for any taxes paid to the Chinese government at the same time? I know, for most of us, our Chinese earned income (as English teachers) is less than a taxable amount in China, but may still be "excluded" on Form 2555. With no Foreign Taxes to claim, we do not file Form 1116.

I need an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) for my income tax. The form was denied. It seems fairly simple. Am I missing something? My wife sent a notarized copy of her passport which I sent in with the form W-7. Has any one else had this problem they resolved? There is no irs office around here to go to and the phone numbers I call don't help. I read the instructions for the form and it seems like they should have accepted it. Any help would be appreciated.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/10/30/news/us-expat-tax/index.html?iid=Lead

Hello everyone. This week my wife arrived in the USA after getting approved for her green card at the end of November. This website has been an invaluable resource throughout the green card process, and I wanted to try to contribute some information in case someone in the future has problems or worries similar to mine and is frantically searching for help on these forums. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank any and all of you who helped us along the way. First, here was our situation. I lived in China from Sept. 2002 to Sept 2012. My wife and I met in 2003, got married in 2008, got her first tourist visa to the USA in 2009, and got her green card at the end of November 2012. I did the Direct Consular Filing (DCF) at the Guangzhou consulate on August 17th, 2012. My wife was approved for her green card on Nov. 30th, 2012, so the entire process took a little over three months, but that doesn't include the two months we spent getting paperwork together for the August 17th filing. So, if you're reading this and thinking of getting started gathering paperwork today, it's going to be about six months before your wife has her green card in hand, and that's if everything goes flawlessly. We had a really bad experience when we first tried to get my wife a tourist visa in 2008 (she was rudely denied after the CO refused to look at any of the documents we had prepared), and as such I have had no faith whatsoever in the people at the consulate who held our future in their hands. Because of this negative experience, I spent way too much time worrying myself sick about things I shouldn't have. Here are some things I was sweating which I shouldn't have. These tips are for men doing DCFs in China for their Chinese wives, not for fiancee visas or people who met over the internet. 1. The best piece of advice I can give you is to tell your wife to get on the Chinese language boards on this website and make nice with the other ladies. They will tell her what forms and information she needs to get, and then she can tell you and you can just do it. The ladies do a great job of helping each other out. My wife was consistently more informed throughout the process than I was. 2. Establishing a domicile is easier than it sounds. If you have a bank account or still receive mail at a family member's house, you'll be fine. A letter from a parent explaining that you and your spouse will be living with them is a good idea. You do NOT need to rent an apartment or anything like that before your wife goes in for her interview. The Guangzhou consulate isn't going to fail you for not proving you have a domicile. 3. You and your co-sponsor MUST have copies of your income tax returns for the most recent three years. For some reason, the government gives you the option of just submitting one year, but they'll deny you if you do. They want three years, so give them three years. IF YOU ARE LIVING ABROAD, FILE YOUR TAXES EVERY YEAR. Many Americans abroad (including me) are confused about whether or not you have to file taxes if you live abroad. Yes, you have to file, but unless you make more than $92,000 per year, you won't have to pay any taxes. Yes, this is stupid. You should complete form 2555 along with your 1040 every year. You do not have to prove your income by sending them a work contract or anything like that; it is strictly on the honor system. Yes, I'm serious. Most tax software programs (like TurboTax) won't let you file electronically from abroad, so you're going to have to do it the old fashioned way and mail it to the USA, unless you have someone prepare you taxes for you in the USA. You do not need a tax professional. 3a. If you have not filed your taxes since you've been overseas, DO NOT PANIC! The IRS doesn't give a crap about you unless you owe them money, and unless you're making more than $92,000 per year, you don't owe them squat. Just file (at the minimum) the last three years (because your wife will need copies of these at the green card interview), and if you haven't filed for longer than that, file up to the last six years you haven't filed (the IRS only keeps the last six years of your information in their computers). File your back taxes now, or at least few months before your wife will go in for her interview. If you have more than six years of unfiled back taxes, you can do any years longer than six years ago later if you want at your leisure. 4. If you do a DCF, remember that the Guangzhou consulate doesn't care how much you make (just that you filed your taxes), unless you have a lot of money in the bank. They care how much your CO-SPONSOR makes. Here's some information about our co-sponsor and the documentation he provided. -Your co-sponsor does NOT need to be a family member. My wife was sponsored by one of my oldest friends. -Our co-sponsor made $30,000 per year the last three years. He supplied the following documents: -Three most recent tax returns and W-2 copies -Passport information copy -The ten most recent weeks of salary receipts from his company -A signed letter explaining who he was and his relationship to me (note, he was NOT a family member) -Completed and signed I-864. That was it. Other people have supplied more information, but that did it for us. One more thing about your co-sponsor. It needs to be someone who isn't resistant do doing this, because the government may request more information from them. I don't believe in karma, but the person doing this needs to have a positive mindset about it, otherwise it's going to be hell for you and them. Find someone who is enthusiastic about you and your wife and ask them. 5. Make sure the correct person signs the correct forms. Triple check to make sure. 6. If your wife can speak English, she will have a much easier time at the interview. 7. You do NOT need a job in the USA for your wife to get a green card if you do a DCF. After I went to Guangzhou and dropped off all our information, I came to the USA to start on the job hunt. My wife stayed in China to finish her driving class and do her interview at the consulate. 8. It took about one week for the consulate to mail my wife her passport with her provisional green card, or whatever it's called, in it after she passed her interview, so take that into consideration when booking flights. 9. You don't go to the interview with your wife if you do a DCF. You go first to start the process, and then she goes by herself later for her interview after you prepare an ungodly amount of paperwork. 10. Unless you live in Guangzhou, getting your wife her green card is going to cost you a minimum of $2,000 for all the consulate fees, the hospital checkup, the plane/train tickets to and from Guangzhou, and the hotel in Guangzhou. Minimum. That's about all I can think of right now with regard to our experience. Just to be clear, I am not an immigration attorney or a tax professional, so use this information at your own risk. Good luck, grasshopper!

Our interview won't be till end of this year, so I'm preparing well ahead of time. I haven't been able to find any reliable information on what exactly is needed when submitting an Affidavit of Support. For example: Tax transcripts or returns? Do they want a W2? How many paystubs (if a regular employee and not self-employed)? What other forms do they need? I want to prepare over and above what is necessary and give her every single piece of paper they could possibly request when the time comes.

Ok, so our situation is a bit complicated so I hope you guys can shed some light and reassure us that there is a way to do this... I'm American by birth, both parents are French so I have dual citizenship. I've never lived in the US except for six months a couple of years ago. I worked for three of those six months but didn't earn enough to pay any taxes and have never filed a US tax return. I have a SSN, a bank account (with hardly anything in it), and a friend's address in California that I used as my residential address when I was there. My girlfriend is from Beijing. We met two and a half years ago in Hong Kong where she was studying when I passed through on my travels. I lived with her there for a few months on a couple of consecutive tourist visas. We then went traveling, spent a year in New Zealand on working visas, then went to Australia where she could only get a tourist visa. Her visa expired a few weeks ago and she's now gone back to China and I'm still in Australia working. We'd like to move to the US together as soon as possible. Our first thought was for her to get a J1 aupair visa and get married once we're both over there, but having done some reading that seems like a more complicated/long/expensive way to do it. So we've started looking at the CR1 process and the idea of getting married somewhere beforehand but we're confused since our situation is relatively unique. Some questions...: Can we get married anywhere or does it have to be in China? After we get married, do we have to stay in the same place while the process is underway and while we wait for her interview? Could she potentially apply for a J1 aupair visa while we're waiting for the CR1 process to happen so we could be in the US together sooner? Will her interview have to take place in China regardless of where we get married and regardless of where she is/we are at the time, or can it be done in any USCIS anywhere in the world? If we have to get married in China, can I be there on a tourist visa? I read that I'd need to have been in China for over six months to file the I-130 by DCF. Is there another way to file the I-130 that doesn't have that requirement? I also saw that I need to file I-130 in the place that is considered my permanent residence. Having been traveling for the past 3 years or so, I'm confused as to where that would be. I grew up in the UK but haven't been back there for over five years and I only lived in France for a couple of years before heading off on my travels 3 years ago. So not sure whether my permanent residence is my current address here in Australia, my father's address in France, my friend's in California, or... Will the fact that I've never really lived in the US and the lack of tax returns be a problem? How would I show that I'm in the process of wanting to establish domicile there? How much money is required to show we can afford the move? We don't have much between us and no joint accounts. Is that ok as long as we can find co-sponsors? Assuming this is at all possible, what happens once we get to the US? Do we need a fixed address so they can check up on us periodically or are we free to do as we like until the 2 year interview as long as we can prove we've spent those two years together? (We're thinking of buying an RV and living on the road while working remotely so wouldn't have a fixed address...) We have plenty of photos together, lots of emails/sms/skype convos, can probably dig up flight booking emails and have met each other's mothers if that helps... A lot of questions I know. Hopefully some of you can enlighten us a bit. Thanks!

Hi everybody, Yesterday was a great day as my wife passed her interview and the visa should be here in a week or so! It feels so good to have this weight lifted off our shoulders. Since I learned most of the process and documentation needed from this website, I thought it appropriate to share our success story with a few tips/lessons learned. Sorry, this will be a long one... Background: I married my Chinese wife in 2009 while we were both expats working in Netherlands. A year later our daughter was born. We had initially decided that we wanted to move to the US so we started the immigration process in Amsterdam. After the I-130 stage but before the interview, we changed our minds. Our company had announced a new focus on China so many job opportunities arose in Shanghai (we both work in the same company). Now, about 3 years after moving to China (my wife had been living in Europe for 8 years), we have decided this time we are indeed ready to move to the US and settle down. Immigration process: We filed the I-130 in Beijing on March 21st and were quite surprised that the notification of approval came within 10 business days. For the I-130, I had brought 50 photos, our international marriage certificate from NL (original is in English among a few other languages), my daughter's birth certificate as well as consolar report of birth abroad. Document collecting: We thought this would be pretty straightforward but it proved to be a bit of a pain in the ass. First was my taxes. While living abroad I knew I had to file taxes and I knew that all my income would be excluded under the foreign income exclusion. So when I tried to efile, I was frustrated that turbotax would not let me file as married because my wife didn't have a SSN. Also, there was no point for me in the ITIN as her income would also be completely excluded so not tax benefit. I filed as single for my tax purposes just to get it filed and I did this for three years. Oops. When I joined this forum I realized this could create a problem so two months ago I filed the 1040X. The only correction was the check box from single to married-filing separately. The IRS still hasn't processed the correction and I'm not sure they even will bother since it doesn't affect money owed to them or money owed to me. But I wanted to have that for the GUZ to clearly show I'm married. Next were the police certificates. My wife was having a heck of a time with the police in Shantou (her Hukou) as they wanted to state that she had no police record in their district, rather than all of China. Luckily, she has a good friend who happens to work in the police dept there and she was able to pull a few strings to get that handled. I need to buy this lady some flowers! Additionally, my wife had previously lived in Belgium, France, and Netherlands. Luckily, we had police reports in 2010 from our previous immigration efforts for Belgium in France (both countries she hadn't lived in since 2005). However, we found out that even though the police certificates were issued years AFTER she left those countries, they couldn't be used since they were issued in 2010. Apparently even these expire after one year. So we had to again request police certificates. So Belgium and France were basically stating that, yep, we didn't make a mistake on the previous report. She really didn't have a police record! Irritating but we were pleasantly surprised that they arrived in China about two weeks after requesting them. We also learned that we could not request one from NL. The embassy in Guangzhou must to so on behalf of us. The translations also proved to be a bit complicated as every agency was accustomed to translating Chinese to English but not French to English. My wife spent quite some time asking around who could translate and also certify/notorize the Belgium/France police certificates. For the I-864 I had enough assets to qualify as meeting the threshold (I don't have a job lined up in the US yet). However, I learned from this website it is always a good idea to have a joint sponsor so I asked my sister to be my wife's sponsor (my sister makes a very comfortable salary). And this paid off as they did indeed ask my wife for a joint sponsor so I'm very happy we were proactive on this. Now, my biggest worry, domicle. I was very nervous about this so I tried as much as possible to provide overkill. I have a daughter and another kid due in less than two months so I really, really did not want to be forced to move back to the US and first find a job. I provided many documents with my parents address: my US bank account, child's college fund, 2 US credit cards, mutual fund account, IRA account, etc. I also had my parents write a letter stating we would live with them temporarily while looking for new jobs when returning to the US. I also had a few emails with my companies recruiters in the US stating our intention to relocate to the US. OK, on to the interview.... I waited with my wife in the long lines outside at 7am. We finally get to the front where the CGI-Stanley girls were putting barcoded stickers on the passport. My wife wasn't paying attention but I immediately noticed the girl put a different person's sticker on my wife's passport. I immediately told the girl (in Chinese) that she made a mistake but she ignored me. I again kept telling her it was wrong and explained again that it was not my wife's name. I even pointed to her master sheet's with all the names and showed her the correct one. "This is my wife" I showed her. She was a bit flustered and I think a bit embarrassed that a foreigner was correcting her mistake. Anyway, my wife went to her document intake and interview. She had provided a few originals such as our international marriage certificate and consular report of birth abroad for our kid. I stressed to her that we needed these back. They took them and said she would get them back before her interview. Later they called her back to collect these originals. She was smart and before just stuffing them in her bag she double-checked the documents. Sure enough, they weren't ours. They mistakenly had given her documents for someone else. A second mistake! Be sure to double check everything! Other than that, the interview was a breeze and they didn't ask her for half of the things we had ready at hand (including her resume). My wife was in at 7 and done by 10, though they did give her priority since she was pregnant. So we'll have the visa within a week or so! However, we can't move back right away as my wife is too far along in her pregnancy so we'll have to have our baby in Shanghai and do another Consular Report of Birth Abroad and make sure we enter the US by December 21, as that is the day the visa will expire. I told my wife, as long as I'm back before Xmas I'll be happy so now it's a must. It's been quite a journey with loads of documents and I'm so happy it's now done. One additional tip: do not get all worked up about possible ways to be denied a visa. It's important to know the key items that can cause this but I was really concerned with domicile and spent far too much time on various internet forums regarding failing due to domicile, which was completely unnecessary since it was out of my hands and most of the crap I was reading were about other countries domicile issues and not China. In the end it was a breeze. That's all I can think of right now. A big thanks to the community!! Steve

Hello everyone. This is my first post. Like most people here, we're beginning the green card process and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed by it. Also, we had a horrible experience getting my wife's first tourist visa to visit the US at the Shanghai consulate four years ago, so I'm terrified of doing something wrong with the paperwork. First, here are our vitals... I'm American, my wife is Chinese (pretty standard here). I have lived in China since 2002. We have been in a relationship since 2003, and have been happily married since April 2008. We do not own property in China. Regarding taxes, we earn less than $90k per year, so the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion would cover any taxes we would pay if we filed separately or jointly. We have only worked for Chinese companies. We do not have any income from the US. All our income comes from China. My father will be co-sponsoring our green card application (joint affidavit of support). My main concern is regarding taxes. Would it be better to file as "Married, Joint" or "Married, Separate"? I am not sure what the advantage would be if we filed as "Married, Joint", except that it helps to prove a "bona fide" relationship. However, we have lived together since 2004 and have numerous photos, plane tickets, etc. from trips we've taken abroad (4 to the USA, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines) and from our wedding (which my parents attended in China) and numerous other adventures together, so I'm not too concerned that they'll think our marriage is a fraud (it isn't). Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Guys, My husband filed I-130 for me last month and i just received P3. My husband has been a teacher in China for the last 5 years and in the last couple years, he didnt file his tax, his income was fae less than the poverty line, we married last year and oue baby was born not long after that. here is the questions. 1. how should he do to file the tax while he stays in China now ? how can he prove his income in China? how much would the penalty for not paying his taxes in the last two years(his ex filed it for him before that)? 2.Since he doesn't make enough money, he can't be the only sponsor of me, he will have to get a co-sponsor, right? 3.Do we need to prepare all the documents listed on P3 then send them altogether to the America Embassy GUZ ? Thx.

Has anybody here looked into a QDOT trust? It is designed so that a non-citizen spouse does not have to pay inheritance taxes on death of the citizen spouse. It seems non-citizen spouses often have difficulty making the tax payments and can get into quite a jam.

Dearest Candle Lovers, After almost seven years in Beijing, and two and a half years of marriage to my Chinese wife, it's finally time to leave (China, not my wife!). I just got accepted to grad school, and have to be back in the US in August, so now I am frantically trying to figure out the most efficient way to get my wife home with me by August if at all possible. I have noticed a handful of people here in the forums who managed to do the whole process in under four months, and I'm hoping that our application process can go just as smoothly (but not getting my hopes up... I know so much of it is out of our hands, but we'd like to give it our best shot and at least get everything right the first time and get things submitted as quickly as possible). I've read up as much as time has allowed over the past week since getting accepted to grad school, but I'm working every day from the butt crack of dawn to the wee hours of the morning on a big project that will require me to work every single day like this until early May. So most of my research time has been on my phone while riding the subway (and its taken me several subway rides to write these questions!). After my initial research, here are the biggest questions that I'm most anxious about at the moment, in order of priority (the first one being most urgent): 1. I want to do a DCF filing, but I've read that you must have a residence permit and a valid visa. I've lived in China for seven years, first on a student visa, then four years on a business visa, and the past two years since getting married I've been on a travel visa (since we got married in the US and didn't get our marriage license translated and notarized at Chinese consulate in US, we couldn't apply for dependency visa for me in my wife's hometown, and since we go home to US every Christmas anyway, I just make a new visa at home every year). Will a travel visa be considered a "valid visa" for a DCF application? Also, after my first year as a student here in Beijing, I've been working as a freelance photographer, and as such have been unable to find any employers to sponsor me for a work visa. Yes folks, I'm sad to say, I am an illegal alien (more about this in Question 2 about my taxes). Is this going to hurt my chances with USCIS and GUZ, or can I potentially use this to support my case for residence here in China? The other problem is that my landlord for my Beijing residence lives abroad and has the hukou book with him, so the nephew who maintains the apartment has claimed from the beginning that they can't register me at the local police station (I've pushed them on this issue and they've refused to budge). This police station pass is the "residence permit" that I need to apply for DCF, right? If I can get a Chinese friend to register me as living with him at his local police station, would that be enough to only have a residence permit valid from right before I submit the application? Otherwise I don't see any way that I can get permits for the past several years! 2. I'm a bit worried about proving my financial stability. As I mentioned above, I work freelance here in Beijing. I'm almost always paid in cash or bank transfer with no questions asked and no taxes reported on the China side. It's my understanding that Americans living abroad don't have to pay taxes on foreign income up to about $92,000 if they are a resident in that country, so I've not turned in a tax return the past several years (which I've only now realized I was supposed to do even if I didn't owe anything... DOH!). However, I do have enough money saved up to get me and my wife through the next three years of school (and I will continue to work freelance on the side in the US - legally this time! - and my wife plans to work full-time as well). So what do I do about not having any tax returns for the past several years? Can I submit now for past years not submitted (and will this look bad to visa officer)? And does USCIS and GUZ care that I was working here on the wrong visa? Also, given my situation what is the best way to prove that my wife and I will not become a financial burden to the state? If I show bank account records in China and US with a fair bit of money, will they question my not having submitted tax returns? Can I avoid this, or at least supplement my application, by having one of my parents co-sponsor us? Also, how early do I need to submit financial information in the immigration visa process? Can I go ahead and submit the I-130 form without it to get the ball rolling on our application? 3. I've read up on the DCF filing process and am pretty familiar with the procedure, but I'm still unclear on how to GET STARTED. I've seen different info about this. Do I first put together my I-130 packet and then make an appointment to drop it off? Or do I make an appointment to pay a fee, and then after paying I mail in my I-130 packet? Is the I-130 packet the first thing I need to give them, or do I have to submit something else before that? Also I've heard lots of people say that they submitted a lot of materials early on before it was asked for (and even stuff that isn't requested). Is it recommended to do this when I send in the I-130 packet if my goal (like most people I'm sure) is to expedite the process as much as possible? I apologize for the long post (and my exceedingly obvious ignorance), and if any of you brave souls have made it this far I'm already extremely grateful. Any advice at all from this great community would be much appreciated!!!

Thought I'd try it this year with the IRS Free File Fillable Forms. It's completely free, and available to anyone as long as you're covered by the available forms. For me, it saved a $28USD EMS fee, and a 1 to 2 week delay for it to show up at the IRS. Problems were - it only supports rounding off to the nearest dollar. That is, each amount you enter is immediately rounded off. I don't like this, since it changes the tax return relative to what's in your records. No big deal, though. 2) It required a 5 digit US ZIP code, even for a foreign address. Took me a few tries, but I entered a '00000' and it took. 3) They require a U.S. telephone number for the electronic bank draft, but didn't tell me. The error message said something cryptic, like 'Bank Rule Error'. I suppose I could have entered (000)00-00000, but I've got a Skype number that I used. Each error is discovered only when you submit it to the IRS, and get the error message back about 20 minutes later. I'm sure it's real easy to fall into a black hole where they won't accept your return, until you fix some stupid error that you can't find anywhere. I expect this is only of interest to those of us in China, since it's MUCH easier to fill out the returns yourself and mail them in.

First post and I really wish I would have discovered this site MUCH earlier... Quick background: I met my Chinese wife when I was living in Chicago and she in Netherlands, as we work for the same MNC. My wife is a Chinese citizen but had been living in Europe for 5 years or so. We got along well, started dating and making several visits (me to NL and China, and her to US). in 2008 I found a job in Amsterdam within our company so made the move and we lived together ever since. In 2009 we were legally married in NL, and had a church ceremony wedding in Hong Kong. In 2010 our daughter was born and is now a US citizen via Consular Report of Birth Abroad. In 2010 we filed the 1-130 in Amsterdam and it was accepted. We received all the paper work and were informed to schedule an interview with the immigration officer. At that time, our company announced major investments in China, which meant job opportunities for us so we decided not to continue with the immigration process and moved to China instead (job market in US wasn't so good anyway). We've now been in Shanghai for 2 years living together and are ready to start the I-130 process again as we're ready to move to the US, with baby number 2 on the way Taxes: I was a good US citizen and filed my taxes each year. Since 2009 I have only had foreign-earned income that is less than the $92k threshold, so it's always qualified to be exclued. No taxes owed to US gov't and none owned to me. However, after we were married I filed as "Single" for tax purposes as for married it required a SSN which my wife doesn't have. Any status I used wouldn't matter because I have no US income and my foreign income is definitely lower than the threshold. Looking through these threads I think technically filing as "single" was not right. Although no impact on taxes owed or paid I'm worried that this stupid little technicallity may create a problem doing the process in China as opposed to when we started it in Amsterdam. Would a simple letter explaining my rationale for using "single" be sufficient? I understand the "single" might create an issue for bonafide marriage but I have loads of other evidence to prove it is real. And I did file my US taxes honestly and faithfully, but maybe not technically correct when I read more on this forum. Appreciate your comments. Steve

Hi, I am preparing to do my taxes and this past year my stepson (20 years old) worked an internship. He made about $ 2,500.00 and we received a w-2 on this. My questions are do I need to file for him on that income individually. If so what form do I use. I also have been claiming him as a dependent and I am assuming I can still do that.......... The same goes for my son also. He is 16 years old and made around the same amount.................. I just want to know that i am doing everything correctly and lawfully. Thanks for the help.

I was reading about foreign earned income deduction today. It sounds like if you live in China (or any foreign country ) for a full calendar year and you do work for a foreign group, you can deduct 90,000 off your gross income for US tax calculation. That seems to good to be true. Do any of you know the details of this, what's the catch? 90,000 at 30% tax bracket seems like uncle sam is paying me 30,000 to get out of the country.

so I havent made enough money in the past 3 years to have to file taxes (been a student or just working part time) so my mother is going to be co-sponsoring. My lawyer suggested that I write a letter stating why I havent filed taxes and to have it notarized by someone at the US embassy, which to be honest im not even sure how to do. Any other advice for someone with no taxes?

Hi, So I just noticed my Wife's name on the past 2 years of tax returns has her name mispelled by one letter. They have it as SuQuing instead of SuQing. What can I do to fix this or will this be an issue sending the Tax Transcripts in with the I-751? Thanks, Vinny

I'm working on P3, and the i-864 affidavit of support. Since my income is in China, and thus (1) isn't much, and (2) won't continue after we make it to the USA, my mom has agreed to submit an i-864a. My question arises from the fact that her taxes are filed jointly with her husband. The i-864a form asks for "total income" as listed on the 1040 tax return. Since they file jointly, that "total income" line is their joint income. However the form also uses the word "individual" income. I assume that this means income for just the one person (in this case my mom), especially since there is only a place for one person to sign the form at the end. My mom and her husband could both file these i-864a forms if it would help in some way, but my mom's income is enough on its own, and besides even if they both did it, it still wouldn't be clear how to fill out the form, given that it still asks for "individual income" and only has space for one person's information on each form. So I think it makes the most sense to ask only my mom to do an i-864a and only count her income. So my proposed solution to this is to just use the income numbers from my mom's W-2's themselves (and attach the W-2s along with the tax returns). Does this seem right? My concern is that the income numbers on the i-864a don't match the income numbers on the tax returns (since the tax returns include two people's income). Either way they're both above the income requirement (125% of poverty line), so it shouldn't matter, I just don't want to delay the process with improperly filled out forms. Another minor concern is household size. When we arrive in the USA, we will be living with my mother and her husband. We are only using my mom's income for the i-864a, so we only need to count her as a member of the household, but it seems strange to count her and not her husband. On the other hand, the instruction page says you don't need to count parents etc as a household member unless you are using their income to meet the income requirement. So I guess we don't need to include him. Any thoughts?

On question 25 of the I-864, the box says "I have filed a federal tax return for each of the most recent tax years. I have only been working for a year and a half so that's not applicable to me. My parents are joint sponsoring my wife, so they will provide their past 3 years tax returns. Should I still check the box and attach my tax returns for last year or should I just leave that space blank altogether? Thanks! Mike

My wife just came to USA in November 2011, do I still need to put her on my tax reform? She didn't work but I thought you need to declare even if you don't work. She had a job in China, would I have to put info about that even though she wasn't a USA resident yet then? Edit: Does money she spend from her credit card that is filled by her parents in china taxable?

According to the IRS, all aliens departing the country are required to fill out form 1040C (Departing Alien Tax Form). This is essentially a tax return for the current year to date, I think. Then you have to take it to the nearest IRS office (which for us is almost 3 hours away). There, if they approve, they sign a certificate of compliance or "sailing permit". This is required to leave the country. It basically means you've paid any taxes you owe. I found this out this year. But my wife left the country last year and nobody asked for this certificate. Does any alien ever get asked on leaving the country? I don't know who would even ask, since as far as I recall departing travelers only show their stuff to the airline, but I may not be recalling correctly. Please let me know if your alien has ever been asked for this, and what else you might know about it. Thanks, Jim

Am I the only one who's been procrastinating? Here's my situation, which I assume is pretty typical. My K-1 fiancee arrived in November and we were married in December. The best option of course is to file "Married Filing Jointly". If we choose this option, it's clear from the IRS website we need to report what she made last year in China, which wasn't much -- and which can be excluded using the "foreign earned income exclusion" option. It also means we need to attach a statement to our tax return saying we're electing to treat her as a resident alien for 2011 tax purposes. Having to attach the statement means we can't file electronically, but that's only a minor inconvenience. So far so good? My question is this. When we ask others in the local community what they did the first year they were married, to a couple they all say: we didn't report any foreign income... no one ever reports any foreign income. The problem this is causing is my wife is really starting to think I'm off my rocker. I try to explain what I've learned and what seems very simple and clear to me: if you want to file jointly, you're required to report both incomes. But when everyone she talks to tells her "no one ever does that", I don't know what to say. So back me up. Tell me I've interpreted the tax rules correctly and that we won't be alone if we go through the additional steps to [a] report her income, exclude it using the foreign earned income exclusion, and [c] attach a signed statement saying we're electing to treat her as a resident alien for the 2011 tax year. Or... tell me I'm off my rocker. It won't be the first time I've heard it this week