daveblax Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 How do you file your taxes online without an employer identification number? If your employer doesn't have this number, do you just file your taxes by paper and mail them in? How long does it take for you to get your tax returns? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 How do you file your taxes online without an employer identification number? If your employer doesn't have this number, do you just file your taxes by paper and mail them in? How long does it take for you to get your tax returns? The tax forms are available online, and can be downloaded in minutes. When I mailed them in, I used EMS for door-to-door tracking and signature verification of receipt. It takes about a week. This year I'm going entirely electronically, including an estimated payment I made in January to avoid a late payment fee. If your tax preparation software REQUIRES an employer identification number, you won't be able to use it. You didn't say which package you're using. Different packages have different restrictions, most of them imposed by the software, rather than the IRS. Try the free file eFile forms on the IRS web site. The Form TDF 90-22.1 is not available for electronic filing - if your Chinese bank account goes over $10,000USD you will need to file that form by mail. For the most part, though, all forms you will need are available through the Free File eFile page. I used (paper) Form 4852 Substitute for Form W-2 to report wages, but this form may not be necessary to report Foreign Earned Income using Form 2555EZ. I don't know if it is available for electronic filing, Yes, many people give up on the electronic filing when the software doesn't support the options they need for their particular situation. One thing you can try to get past some "necessary" fields is enter 00000 for a U.S. zip code, or 000-000-0000 for a U.S. phone number. Otherwise, just mail it in. Remember that even though they give you an automatic two month extension for living abroad, the payment is still due by April 15. Plan on mailing it around April 1 and you won't have any problems. If you want to try electronic filing, make sure you have it sorted out by that date so you'll still have the postal mail to fall back on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy W Posted February 3, 2014 Report Share Posted February 3, 2014 Oh - try that trick with all 0's for the Employer Identification Number, also. It should allow you to get past that point on the data entry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveblax Posted February 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 Thanks so much for the help man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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