Doing My Tax Paperwork...

[clayton2103]

As I was married in Dec '07, I intend to file as "Married."

 

Wife has SSN, but has not worked.

 

How do I file?

 

1) Married filing jointly

2) Married filing seperately

 

 

Also, the form asks me to check this box if my wife: Is not a U.S. citizen or resident alien.

 

How is this answered?

 

Any help on how to go about filing now as a married couple would be helpful.

 

Thanks.

Clayton

Edited January 24, 2008 by clayton2103 (see edit history)

[yuan fen]

Clayton,

 

I have been thinking about the same things, and doing some reading up in the IRS "2006 Publication 519." I don't know if anything has changed for 2007.

 

Page 10 talks about a "Non-resident spouse treated as a resident."

 

It appears that one must include a "declaration" to do this.

 

It would be real nice to file jointly. I just don't want to get burned by a mistake..

 

Eric

Edited January 24, 2008 by yuan fen (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Yes - file jointly. We had a discussion about this recently. I'll find the link for it tonight.

[jim_julian]

I looked at this is some depth last year.

 

As I understand it WenLi didn't have a GC in 2007. She also has not met the 3 year substantial presence test. Therefore I believe she is a non-resident for tax purposes in 2007. However, since you are married you can choose to treat her as a resident. This involves the declaration outline in Pub 519. That is what my wife and I did for our first filing year, and then we filed as MFJ.

 

For me, the only potential downside was if my wife had a lot of income in the tax year I'm filing for. If you declare MFJ the first year you're married then you are taxed on your "global income". Any money WenLi earned anywhere in the world in 2007 would be subject to US income tax. Money earned by her in previous years is considered to have already been taxed and is not subject to US tax.

 

As Eric suggests, study Pub 519.

[Randy W]

It's been pretty well pored over here.

 

This isn't the recent discussion, but Lee's modified it for what came out more recently.

 

Basically, as long as you are married on the last day of the year, you can file "married filing jointly" by filing the declaration that Jim is talking about. Most of our spouses had little to no reportable income while in China.

 

Even if your spouse s still in China, the declaration can be used. Read the Publication 519.

[yuan fen]

It's been pretty well pored over here.

 

This isn't the recent discussion, but Lee's modified it for what came out more recently.

 

Basically, as long as you are married on the last day of the year, you can file "married filing jointly" by filing the declaration that Jim is talking about. Most of our spouses had little to no reportable income while in China.

 

Even if your spouse s still in China, the declaration can be used. Read the Publication 519.

 

 

 

That is the "pinned thread" at the top of the AOS forum I think, and that is pretty much how I summed it up also.

Edited January 25, 2008 by yuan fen (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Here is the page from Pub 519 that applies to K-1's:

 

http://i3.tinypic.com/7wyqwk2.jpg

 

 

and the more recent thread.

[clayton2103]

Thanks so much to all.

Things are looking well in our home this year.

The married life is bringing me smiles upon smiles. Life is good!

 

Thanks for the info, links and the posted Pub 519 page.

 

Clayton