Income tax

[lostinblue]

I have this thread

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...p;p=187591&

Yan said she only has pay slip to prove income made in china

Do we need more and what should we ask for at her company.I will need to report her income for next year

[Randy W]

I think you can pretty much count on her company NOT filling out any American forms, or reporting anything to the IRS.

[tywy_99]

I have this thread

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...p;p=187591&

Yan said she only has pay slip to prove income made in china

Do we need more and what should we ask for at her company.I will need to report her income for next year

Why worry about it?

[lostinblue]

I have this thread

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...p;p=187591&

Yan said she only has pay slip to prove income made in china

Do we need more and what should we ask for at her company.I will need to report her income for next year

Why worry about it?

 

from visa journey

Hi Zggy, I have been reading posts in this forum on taxes and I am unsure why I need to report my wife's foreign income. Here is my situation. My wife and I got married last July 14 2006. She is from Panama. She came into the country on May 17 2006. She does not have a SSN. We are doing the immigration process now. I understand the whole W-7 form for an ITN. I will file her as a resident alien. She meets the 183 days requirement. I plan on filing Married filing Jointly. But I don't understand why I need report her foreign income. There is no tax treaty between the US and Panama. Her income last year would have been $6,120. Panama does not collect taxes like the US. So can you explain to me why I would want to report her income on our tax return?

 

Thanks,

Mike

 

 

 

No one can give me advice on my question?

 

 

 

 

You file as married filing joint because it gives you the best tax advantages.... by far...

 

Report her $6,120 on Line 7 of your joint 1040...

 

Fill out Form 2555 and exclude the $6,120... so your AGI will be exactly the same as if she was never there...

 

But get the extra $3,300 personal exemption from your spouse and the larger $10,300 standard exemption for filling as married filing joint ($5,150 for married filing single) which will lower your taxable income and the amount of income taxes that the IRS wants... Remember, you MUST file as either MFS or MFJ...

 

Why give the government more money that what they deserve...

[LeeFisher3]

Sounds like the advice of an IRS agent.

 

As your wife will not have any W-2's you will need to count on her best recollection.

 

After explaining income tax to my wife extremely clearly and how much taxes would be levied on her foreign income, I asked her to think about how much I should tell the US government she made so she could pay taxes.

 

You know, I thought she had income, but apparently she was just helping a friend out and didn't make any money at all that year.

[Dan R]

Sounds like the advice of an IRS agent.

 

As your wife will not have any W-2's you will need to count on her best recollection.

 

After explaining income tax to my wife extremely clearly and how much taxes would be levied on her foreign income, I asked her to think about how much I should tell the US government she made so she could pay taxes.

 

You know, I thought she had income, but apparently she was just helping a friend out and didn't make any money at all that year.

 

Right Lee, I am continually amazed at the Chinese penchant to voluntarily pitch in their time and resources to help a friend with no thought of gain. B)

[dnoblett]

Sounds like the advice of an IRS agent.

 

As your wife will not have any W-2's you will need to count on her best recollection.

 

After explaining income tax to my wife extremely clearly and how much taxes would be levied on her foreign income, I asked her to think about how much I should tell the US government she made so she could pay taxes.

 

You know, I thought she had income, but apparently she was just helping a friend out and didn't make any money at all that year.

 

Right Lee, I am continually amazed at the Chinese penchant to voluntarily pitch in their time and resources to help a friend with no thought of gain. B)

I asked my Yu about paying taxes in China, her income at the school was below the "poverty line" so she did not even pay taxes to the Chinese Government, I figure the 1.5 months of her work in China would not be worth reporting next year, so as far as we are concerned she was unemployed and did some voluntary teaching at the school.

[Lowen/Zhang]

Even if you report foreign income you can then exclude it by using form 2555-EZ (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion).

[LeeFisher3]

Even if you report foreign income you can then exclude it by using form 2555-EZ (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion).

This is not allowed if you do the first year election because all world wide income is included as US income.

 

You can do one or the other, but not both.

[jim_julian]

As Lee states above you cannot exclude foreign income on the 2555 if you are filing first year, married filing jointly.

 

I've checked this out in detail. Read the 2555 and 2555EZ instructions.

[lostinblue]

Yan has only worked 2 months before "early retirement" from her job. You are only talking about 500 dollars. So it is not a big deal/ Just trying to stay on the right side of the law