filing taxes

[heyjimi]

i know i seen something on taxes on here months ago,anyway it is soon tax season,what documents will i need from my wife (in China).to file my taxes,and what forms to use. i know i will have to get a tax number i guess for her.but i don't know what i will need from her end.

[ktmracer]

i know i seen something on taxes on here months ago,anyway it is soon tax season,what documents will i need from my wife (in China).to file my taxes,and what forms to use. i know i will have to get a tax number i guess for her.but i don't know what i will need from her end.

If you file jointly, start here:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96287,00.html

[tywy_99]

You will need your wife's Chinese passport to file for a TIN number for her. To file, you will need to complete the IRS form W-7 and send it in with either a notarized copy of her passport's biographic page or you can send in the passport itself to the IRS. The IRS will send it back to you. The IRS will assign a TIN number for your wife that you can use in filling out the tax forms.

[heyjimi]

yes,this is the info i am looking for

thanks

[rogerinca]

I was married in Dec. ‘06, so I needed the IRS Form W-7 to be able to include my wife on the TY-06 filing period, so I just went through all of this process eight months ago.

 

Following is more detail for accomplishing this task:

 

You will need two things; as mentioned previously, a US Notarized copy of her PRC passport, and her signature on both the form W-7 and on your Form 1040.

 

There was a lot of debate last year on how to obtain the notarization on the passport. The Chinese notary is not viewed as acceptable to the IRS. The only US Notary available in the PRC is at a Consulate or the Embassy. Some had success in getting this accomplished at the Consulate in Guangzhou, some did not. My wife attempted to do this twice, and was rebuffed both times. The first time she took the bus to the Consulate and the Chinese national security guards would not let her go to the 5th floor and told her she was not entitled to this service or that it did not exist. She rode the bus home empty handed.

 

I had her go back again the next week and told her to ask for a supervisor and give him my text message note explaining what we wanted. She again took the bus to the Consulate and met with a supervisor, who told her they only did the notarization at the old Shamian Island facility and not at the new building. We later found out this was not true, but again she made a bus trip into the city for nothing.

 

I did not want her to spin her wheels again and make a trip to the Island for nothing, so I had her FedEx her passport directly to me. I had the tracking number and I tracked it on line, from the time it was picked up at her home, to the time it was delivered to me in California, was 41 hours (Guangzhou to Shenzhen to Hong Kong to Anchorage to Oakland to Sacramento to my home.)

 

I took her passport to a Notary Public close to my home and had the cover and the bio pages copied and notarized. I took the Form 1040, the Form W-7 and her passport and went directly to FedEx and expressed it back to her home. I tracked it the entire way with my tracking number and she received it 44 hours later at her home. She had the FedEx man wait and she retrieved her passport and signed and dated both the 1040 and the W-7, filled out the shipping label and handed the package right back to him. Again, some 40 hours later, I had the signed documents in my hand.

 

If you read the instructions on the W-7, you will see that you mail the Notarized copy of the passport and the Form 1040 and W-7 to the special unit in Texas. They will process the W-7 first and in about 6 to 7 weeks you will receive a copy of the approved W-7 with the TIN on it. They will also then process the tax return for you and if you have money coming back, you will receive the check in about another 6 weeks. The earlier you file the quicker the result. I got right down to the wire, due to the issues with the Consulate, and my refund was delayed as so many W-7’s hit the special unit at the same time.

 

Last year, the consensus among the members was to not send Lao Po’s passport to IRS. At least one member here reported never seeing it again, and no info from IRS other than, we don’t know where it is. His wife then had to scramble to get a new one prior to the interview.

 

Bottom line, if your wife is close to a US Consulate in China, she can try to have more success in getting her passport notarized. If not, go the FedEx route.

 

Some here last year, suggested signing the W-7 and the 1040 for her. I did not want to jeopardize the tax filing nor the visa with something that might come back to bite me. This is why I elected to incorporate this aspect with my securing of her passport and get her true signature in Chinese and Roman characters .

 

I hope this helps and maybe will save time for others, as we approach the ‘07 TY filing period.

Edited December 4, 2007 by rogerinca (see edit history)

[heyjimi]

I was married in Dec. ¡®06, so I needed the IRS Form W-7 to be able to include my wife on the TY-06 filing period, so I just went through all of this process eight months ago.

 

Following is more detail for accomplishing this task:

 

You will need two things; as mentioned previously, a US Notarized copy of her PRC passport, and her signature on both the form W-7 and on your Form 1040.

 

There was a lot of debate last year on how to obtain the notarization on the passport. The Chinese notary is not viewed as acceptable to the IRS. The only US Notary available in the PRC is at a Consulate or the Embassy. Some had success in getting this accomplished at the Consulate in Guangzhou, some did not. My wife attempted to do this twice, and was rebuffed both times. The first time she took the bus to the Consulate and the Chinese national security guards would not let her go to the 5th floor and told her she was not entitled to this service or that it did not exist. She rode the bus home empty handed.

 

yes,this helps,a bit complicated just to get a tax number...and yes,i also remember someone on here saying they mailed the actual passport,and it got lost or something.

yeah,ok well this is what i will have to do...the fed ex route....a bit expensive too.

thanks

I had her go back again the next week and told her to ask for a supervisor and give him my text message note explaining what we wanted. She again took the bus to the Consulate and met with a supervisor, who told her they only did the notarization at the old Shamian Island facility and not at the new building. We later found out this was not true, but again she made a bus trip into the city for nothing.

 

I did not want her to spin her wheels again and make a trip to the Island for nothing, so I had her FedEx her passport directly to me. I had the tracking number and I tracked it on line, from the time it was picked up at her home, to the time it was delivered to me in California, was 41 hours (Guangzhou to Shenzhen to Hong Kong to Anchorage to Oakland to Sacramento to my home.)

 

I took her passport to a Notary Public close to my home and had the cover and the bio pages copied and notarized. I took the Form 1040, the Form W-7 and her passport and went directly to FedEx and expressed it back to her home. I tracked it the entire way with my tracking number and she received it 44 hours later at her home. She had the FedEx man wait and she retrieved her passport and signed and dated both the 1040 and the W-7, filled out the shipping label and handed the package right back to him. Again, some 40 hours later, I had the signed documents in my hand.

 

If you read the instructions on the W-7, you will see that you mail the Notarized copy of the passport and the Form 1040 and W-7 to the special unit in Texas. They will process the W-7 first and in about 6 to 7 weeks you will receive a copy of the approved W-7 with the TIN on it. They will also then process the tax return for you and if you have money coming back, you will receive the check in about another 6 weeks. The earlier you file the quicker the result. I got right down to the wire, due to the issues with the Consulate, and my refund was delayed as so many W-7¡¯s hit the special unit at the same time.

 

Last year, the consensus among the members was to not send Lao Po¡¯s passport to IRS. At least one member here reported never seeing it again, and no info from IRS other than, we don¡¯t know where it is. His wife then had to scramble to get a new one prior to the interview.

 

Bottom line, if your wife is close to a US Consulate in China, she can try to have more success in getting her passport notarized. If not, go the FedEx route.

 

Some here last year, suggested signing the W-7 and the 1040 for her. I did not want to jeopardize the tax filing nor the visa with something that might come back to bite me. This is why I elected to incorporate this aspect with my securing of her passport and get her true signature in Chinese and Roman characters .

 

I hope this helps and maybe will save time for others, as we approach the ¡®07 TY filing period.

[Corbin]

At the risk of sounding dumb, do you have to put your Chinese wife on your tax return if you don't have the visa process completed? What is the reason behind this?

[chilton747]

At the risk of sounding dumb, do you have to put your Chinese wife on your tax return if you don't have the visa process completed? What is the reason behind this?

Yes you do and the reason is because the IRS says so. They are hopin' they can tax her income but we know better than that.

[Corbin]

At the risk of sounding dumb, do you have to put your Chinese wife on your tax return if you don't have the visa process completed? What is the reason behind this?

Yes you do and the reason is because the IRS says so. They are hopin' they can tax her income but we know better than that.

Thats what I thought, well I'll keep this logged in the back of my memory banks.

[rogerinca]

At the risk of sounding dumb, do you have to put your Chinese wife on your tax return if you don't have the visa process completed? What is the reason behind this?

 

There are no questions that are “dumb” !! If there were, then I would be one of the dumbest here.

 

Here are the answers/reasons from my humble opinion/perspective:

 

1. For me, in my tax bracket, the difference between filing single and filing as married, along with the extra personal exemption, was significant enough to more than pay for the FedEx shipping, the Notary service, and a couple of trips to Guangzhou !! I would have also added our daughter; however, unlike a spouse, I must wait until she is actually here in the US, before I can claim her. That will occur on my TY ‘08 filing. Loa Po no longer works, since prior to our marriage date in 2005; therefore, she has no income to report for this TY. Moreover, since my ‘ex’ got my house, and has that huge write-off on her taxes, I get to claim my joint-custody ten year old son and 12 year old daughter, as well, to also take advantage of the additional child credit.

 

2. When the changes were made last year, to the process/paperwork for the increased focus on the bona-fides of the relationship; I viewed this as an excellent [opportunity] for a positive ‘indicator’ for my USCIS/DOS working ‘profile’ to have filed her W-7, obtained her TIN, and included her on my Form 1040 as my spouse. In this regard, I actually included the cover and signature pages of the 1040 and W-7 as exhibits, with both my I-130’s and the I-129F. Again, this is all my opinion/perspective, based on my long career path experience with investigations similar to the type employed by USCIS and the DOS/GUZ.

 

Last, as a relevant side-bar, this is also one of the reasons why I quickly plugged her and my daughter into my Agency’s Blue Cross health insurance program as soon as we became married; and also used that notarized notice of action form and photocopies of the BC cards, as additional exhibits of the bona-fides of the marriage and family unit relationship. This was in addition to ensuring their health coverage the moment the plane is wheels-up at CAN. Again, I not only added evidence to the bona-fides; but at the same time, provided more credence that neither wife nor child would likely become public charges with respect to their health care.

 

Now, if I were only smart enough to get over my jet-lag and off the China time-zone body clock and back on PST and be asleep at this hour.......

Edited December 4, 2007 by rogerinca (see edit history)

[heyjimi]

yes filing married i will get money back,last year I had to pay the IRS 1,000 dollars more than what they took out each week from my pay check,because i was just recently divorced then and had to file single.

[trudger24]

I was wondering about wife income mine retried last May how do I show her income . I will do my taxes both ways then see how much different. then go the better way, also heyjimi it looks like you are a couple of month ahead on me , so we will be see each other here a lot

[NUWORLD]

At the risk of sounding dumb, do you have to put your Chinese wife on your tax return if you don't have the visa process completed? What is the reason behind this?

 

Corbin buddy: Looking at your time line and seeing you are not married yet.

Your taxes will not change this year. (2007)

But for the fact that you are going to meet you SO on the 13th of this month.

Then maybe next year it will change.

Married is married.

 

Here are a few post from last year on this topic.

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...c=22524&hl=

 

http://candleforlove.com/forums/index.php?...c=22151&hl=

 

These might help.

This topic come up every year!!

 

On a side note: I filed married jointly while the wife was still in china and got big bucks back from the GOV.