help with filing taxes jointly (she's still in China)

[dan_ling]

I never get a refund, I always have to pay when I send in my Tax forms. Tax forms, what a mess.

 

 

These are the first 2 years for me to get a refund back, filing Married Jointly made a huge difference.

[whatsthedeal]

Check this out.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch01.html

[TLB]

Check this out.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch01.html

 

 

 

Thanks, I had actually read this, but on second viewing (I've read so many!) I see I need to attach a statement to the tax return.

 

 

"A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year."

 

I am having my wife send her passport to me; I'll have a copy made, have the copy notarized, and send that in with the return. Let me know if anyone sees a problem with that.

[Highlander 08 09 10 11]

I never get a refund, I always have to pay when I send in my Tax forms. Tax forms, what a mess.

 

 

These are the first 2 years for me to get a refund back, filing Married Jointly made a huge difference.

 

Worked on my tax forms today. I never get a refund back, but this is the first year in along time I have not had to pay in...

[whatsthedeal]

See if I can axed this question the right way??

 

Last year we sent in a letter to treat her as a US resident and the ITIN form. This year she has her visa and SS# so the ITIN is no longer needed.

 

Do we need to send a letter to suspend the choice for her to be treated as a resident and cancel the ITIN?

 

Can we just file with her SS# and forget the letter to suspend the choice?

[tsap seui]

Check this out.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p519/ch01.html

 

 

 

Thanks, I had actually read this, but on second viewing (I've read so many!) I see I need to attach a statement to the tax return.

 

 

"A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year."

 

I am having my wife send her passport to me; I'll have a copy made, have the copy notarized, and send that in with the return. Let me know if anyone sees a problem with that.

 

 

 

The notary can make the copy, then you send that and the W-7 in with the return. The W-7 and proof will be forwarded to the IRS center in Austin, Texas where they will process her application for the ITIN. My wife just got her letter from the IRS assigning her a ITIN. I had been to my local IRS office last week and they gave me the number as it was already in their computer.

 

Now, I also sent in, with the return for 2009, Form 2848: Power Of Attorney and Declaration of Representative

 

This form allows YOU to sigh HER name to the return. Yes, she needs to sign it in China.

 

I also had to use that Form 2848 when I signed my wife's name and turned in my 2010 taxes yesterday at the IRS office.

 

Good luck.

 

Whatsthedeal. I would send in the ITIN letter, and also send in my return with her SS# on the 1040.

 

WHen dealing with Uncle....cover your ass....double, and even triple

 

tsap seui

[bullmastiff]

Where did they send the ITIN to ?

to China or to the address in the US ???

I put down my US address as the wife's mailing address in W7 .

 

I need the ITIN # in order to file for the state return.

 

How long did it take you to get the ITIN # ?

 

Thanks.

Edited February 15, 2011 by bullmastiff (see edit history)

[tsap seui]

Where did they send the ITIN to ?

to China or to the address in the US ???

I put down my US address as the wife's mailing address in W7 .

 

I need the ITIN # in order to file for the state return.

 

How long did it take you to get the ITIN # ?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

They will send it to your American address. It's kinda weird seeing something addressed to your wife in your mailbox, like she's living with you.

 

I think it took 7 weeks to get it.

 

Good luck, you could go to your local IRS branch office and ask them to look it up in their computer, if it's been generated they can give it to you a bit quicker than waiting on the actual letter.

[whatsthedeal]

Where did they send the ITIN to ?

to China or to the address in the US ???

I put down my US address as the wife's mailing address in W7 .

 

I need the ITIN # in order to file for the state return.

 

How long did it take you to get the ITIN # ?

 

Thanks.

 

 

I did a 1040X and the W7 together with the letter, they sent it to our US address.

My wife has a SS# now so I will amend our 2009 state return with that this year.

The IRS got backed up (so they said) so her ITIN took about 14 weeks.

 

She had her ITIN about 2 months then got her SS# shortly after her visa here in the states.

[whatsthedeal]

So cuzzin Tsapper y'all think I should do a paper return and send a letter with all our tax forms again to Houston to suspend our choice to treat her as a US resident?

 

They might not understand it is to cancel the ITIN as she has SS# now..?

Anyway that's my concern.

[tsap seui]

So cuzzin Tsapper y'all think I should do a paper return and send a letter with all our tax forms again to Houston to suspend our choice to treat her as a US resident?

 

They might not understand it is to cancel the ITIN as she has SS# now..?

Anyway that's my concern.

 

 

Yessir, I'd send in a paper or electronic return with your wife's SS # on it. My return goes to KAnsas City, you'res may as well, I don't know.

 

The Texas center is where they approve of, and give ou the ITIN numbers. I wouldn't send them any tax forms as you've already sent them to the appropriate office for filing.

 

Just send a letter with your wife's old ITIN number, her new SS#, and a statement asking them to cancel the ITIN number. THey will understand and you will be certain to be done with the ITIN number.

 

The center your return goes to will figure out (if they even look at last years ITIN #) that your wife now has a SS#. IT's probably overkill to send a letter to Texas, but you will make for certain that the office that issued the ITIN number is the one who cancels it out.

 

Good luck, and have a happy life, buddy.

 

tsap seui

Tax advisor to the stars Don't tell anyone, I'm really dumber than cuzin Chawls is stoopid

[casprd]

Trying to make heads or tails of this whole process and have one question not really covered yet. How do I class my wife's income in China? (she is still a chinese resident as we are at the NVC step of the process). Should it be normal W2 income, Self Employed income or some other type of income? Don't really want to go the whole 2555 route as it is much too complicated given she makes less than $3000 a year. I do have a certified/notarized/translated copy of her passport and birth certificate. Do I need to have her get a new copy notarized at the Chengdu consulate instead? or is that just a precaution given how anal Uncle Sam and the IRS in particular can be? Also, is the power of attorney form just a state thing? I have found one for the oklahoma tax commission but nothing for the feds yet.

 

thanks

[dnoblett]

Trying to make heads or tails of this whole process and have one question not really covered yet. How do I class my wife's income in China? (she is still a chinese resident as we are at the NVC step of the process). Should it be normal W2 income, Self Employed income or some other type of income? Don't really want to go the whole 2555 route as it is much too complicated given she makes less than $3000 a year. I do have a certified/notarized/translated copy of her passport and birth certificate. Do I need to have her get a new copy notarized at the Chengdu consulate instead? or is that just a precaution given how anal Uncle Sam and the IRS in particular can be? Also, is the power of attorney form just a state thing? I have found one for the oklahoma tax commission but nothing for the feds yet.

 

thanks

 

Won't be a W-2 since a Chinese employer does not issue a IRS specific form "W-2"

[casprd]

Sorry, that was the way the Accountant asked the question. By W2 income, is it reported as normal wages just as we would report our wages on a W2 or is it more like self employed income where additional taxes are taken out or is it some other income?

[whatsthedeal]

Sorry, that was the way the Accountant asked the question. By W2 income, is it reported as normal wages just as we would report our wages on a W2 or is it more like self employed income where additional taxes are taken out or is it some other income?

 

 

Casprd hope this helps. I had my wife (she was still in China) make a report in MS Excel for her wages.

Looked like this.

 

Her Name:

Address:

ITIN: A-P-P-L-I-E-D (we did not have it yet)

Employer Name:

Employer Address:

Total Wages For TAX Year XXXX:

 

 

I sent that to Texas with the W-7 letter to treat her as US resident and 1040 I also printed PUB 519 and highlighted areas that affected our return.

The best was I did not have to claim her income.

 

All I can say is it worked for us?