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Tax question on first year filing with new wife


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My wife came to the U.S. on a K1 Visa back in September 2006. We applied for and received a SSN card for her in November. We got married in December. We subsequently mailed the AOS package in January 2007.

 

Now I don't know if I can use her SSN for "married filing jointly" since the I-94 already expired.

 

If it is ok to use her SSN, do I need to include anything else with the tax returns, perhaps a marriage certificate?

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

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My wife came to the U.S. on a K1 Visa back in September 2006. We applied for and received a SSN card for her in November. We got married in December. We subsequently mailed the AOS package in January 2007.

 

Now I don't know if I can use her SSN for "married filing jointly" since the I-94 already expired.

 

If it is ok to use her SSN, do I need to include anything else with the tax returns, perhaps a marriage certificate?

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

 

 

The SSN is hers for life - no expiration. You MUST use it.

 

No marriage certificate is needed.

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My wife came to the U.S. on a K1 Visa back in September 2006. We applied for and received a SSN card for her in November. We got married in December. We subsequently mailed the AOS package in January 2007.

 

Now I don't know if I can use her SSN for "married filing jointly" since the I-94 already expired.

 

If it is ok to use her SSN, do I need to include anything else with the tax returns, perhaps a marriage certificate?

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

 

 

The SSN is hers for life - no expiration. You MUST use it.

 

No marriage certificate is needed.

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As long as you and your wife got married before Dec 31st you can file married filing jointly. The SSN is perfectly fine for filing without any extra documentation. You will need to show any income she made in China however. Whether or not it is taxable I'm not sure. I kinda doubt that China would share income information with the US though.

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I checked with IRS regarding income last week. If you file married filing jointly you are taxed on your combined world wide income. Although Lao Po didn't work in China last year she did have some income from the family farm and from some loans she made to others. We will report this as part of our world wide income. The IRS guy said don't worry that there is no documentation substantiating this income, just keep some notes for your self as to the source in case you are ever audited.

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I may be reading into this, but are you saying that we can claim my wifes income in China on our return, thus showing that we made a ton 'o money, and consequently more than satisfy income requirements? Make sense?

Steve

 

Unfortunately I can't cut and paste text out of IRS pubs very well because of the 3 column format. Download Pub 54. On page six it states in part:

 

If, at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is a US citizen or a resident alien and the other spouse is a nonresident alien, you can treat the nonresident as a US resident.

 

Of course you must read the whole section to get the complete context but I think you could declare worldwide income on a married filing jointly return. Now, as to the question of USCIS counting this toward income requirements ... who knows. My gut tells me no, but it's worth checking out. Maybe someone has experience ...

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The issue is whether DOS, who has jurisdiction over visa issuance will accept the worldwide income towards satisfying their concerns for future public charge in the US...

 

An independently wealthy alien sponsored individual can become their own sponsor the form by including their income/assets... but I had taken this example to mean that they were independently wealthy indefinitely into the future.. not just current money that might last a few years.

 

Sustainability is the big issue... and a current job is the best indicator for bread on the table tomorrow... That 'current' should be understood as arrival in the US... at that point is there sustainable income.

 

I'm not trying to make this more strict than DOS will... but this is the basic thinking; how it is applied case by case will be revealed at the interview...

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