Urgent tax question...

Hi,

I've not been able to find a clear answer to this, I'm hoping someone on this board can help me.

I am an American citizen married to a non-American citizen who does not work in the United States. How do I list my husband on my taxes?

Recently I had lots of problems when filling out my FAFSA form for student financial aid because it says "are you married?" and I answered "yes" then it asked me to list my spouses income and the taxes he paid on it - so, I had an income to list but there were not American taxes paid on that income because he does not live or work in America. We had to go through sooooo much drama to prove this to my school and to the federal gov. in order for me to get my financial aid.

The question is, how do I list my non-American, non-working in America husband on my taxes? I do not want to say that I am not married because I never, ever, eveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer want to lie to the IRS, but it seems that as soon as you say you are married they assume that you are married to a US citizen or at the very least someone who is earning income in America and thus paying taxes.

I am extremely stressed because I just got my W2's (they had to be sent to Saudi which took a while) and I have to file my taxes in order to file my FAFSA for this coming school year..and that has to be done by 3/15 :eek:

Please help!

~Emily

((Aina's husband, Joel, is posting now))

Well, I filed my taxes from overseas last year, and I seem to remember there being a box or something in the spouse section where you could specify wheter or not your spouse was an American citizen/resident. If not, I think I had to fill it in as a "0" under taxable income, as my wife's income isn't taxable by the United States Government.
I'm reading in the tax booklet right now, and it says that nonresident aliens (or their spouses ;) ) cannot file a joint return, which doesn't seem to help us :P
The best I can suggest is to go to irs.gov and try sending them an email or something. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, but it's been over a year since I've filed, and I don't have to file this year, as I haven't earned a single dollar that's taxable in the US :P

joel... interesting, thought you had to file every year irregardless, but i'm obviously wrong.

em.... don't you just love the "assumptions" made by government in forms? have you looked into online filing services? perhaps they can just "do it for ya" and you can wash your hands of the whole mess ;)

I believe there is a box where you can mark "married but filing separate tax return"...

And then there are other forms specially for your situation Amina but I sure do not remember the form numbers, there are so many and IRS is so confusing, but do search on line go to the IRS page and you can find your answers there...

Good luck, sorry I was not much help!

PS BTW you can file your tax return on line.

I believe there is a box where you can mark "married but filing separate tax return"...

And then there are other forms specially for your situation Amina but I sure do not remember the form numbers, there are so many and IRS is so confusing, but do search on line go to the IRS page and you can find your answers there...

Good luck, sorry I was not much help!

PS BTW you can file your tax return on line.

I believe your right.... Married but filing separately... Or maybe best would go to
H&R Block .

Hi,

I've not been able to find a clear answer to this, I'm hoping someone on this board can help me.

I am an American citizen married to a non-American citizen who does not work in the United States. How do I list my husband on my taxes?

Recently I had lots of problems when filling out my FAFSA form for student financial aid because it says "are you married?" and I answered "yes" then it asked me to list my spouses income and the taxes he paid on it - so, I had an income to list but there were not American taxes paid on that income because he does not live or work in America. We had to go through sooooo much drama to prove this to my school and to the federal gov. in order for me to get my financial aid.

The question is, how do I list my non-American, non-working in America husband on my taxes? I do not want to say that I am not married because I never, ever, eveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer want to lie to the IRS, but it seems that as soon as you say you are married they assume that you are married to a US citizen or at the very least someone who is earning income in America and thus paying taxes.

I am extremely stressed because I just got my W2's (they had to be sent to Saudi which took a while) and I have to file my taxes in order to file my FAFSA for this coming school year..and that has to be done by 3/15 :eek:

Please help!

~Emily

Also, you could call 1-800-829-1040 and see how to deal with the phone system. It might be hard from Saudi though. Just a suggestion.
Hope you are having fun!
Ali

Em, when my daughter was married, she ALWAYS filed "married, filing seperately" because of some issues with her husband's income....that she didn't want to be involved in.

Since you're not supporting your husband, I don't know why you WOULDN'T file this way. You can't really file jointly since your husband makes no US income. I don't think you have much choice but to file seperately, and just claim yourself.

Piece 'o cake!

Kat,

Unfortunately it's not that simple - to file "married filing seperately" requires your husband to have a SSN...which my husband does not have.

I keep emailing different tax people and I'm hoping one of them gives me an intelligent answer soon.

I have always done my taxes by myself using the same tax filing website, etc...and I definitely HAVE to do it that way this year since I am so far away and it will take too long/be unreliable to send it in the mail...so I am really pissed off about the fact that a SSN is required for my spouse on a "filing seperately" return.

*stressful sigh* :(

funny ______

remembering when my husband was trying to fill out applications after immigration..
em, i assume you have been to international tax preparation sites?

just google "filing taxes living abroad spouse non US citizen".....there's all kinds of stuff, including your situation when I glanced at it.

I know you're smart enough to do this, but are probably under stress about it. :(

I did google, and found nothing that actually answered my question specifically...

I don't think it's a matter of not being smart, it's a matter of not having access to accurate information...

can you email them? (like someone would answer, right...) if that fails, have yr mom call the IRS this week...eh?

Kat,

I am waiting for replies, I sent a few emails...one actually got a response and the response was not correct (IE overlooked the fact that I need a SSN for my spouse to file seperately, etc)...

Thanks for caring....

By the way, hows the pup? She is so cute, I love your avatar!

Em, I'm in the process of doing my own taxes this afternoon and in the instruction booklet it says that nonresident must either have an SSN OR an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). It says for details on how to apply for an ITIN see Form W-7 and its instructions. It says that it usually takes about 4-6 weeks to get an ITIN. I'm not entirely clear if that's pertaining to nonresidents who have a visa, or if it's about all nonresident spouses, regardless where the U.S. Citizen lives.

Now, that doesn't answer your immediate question about how you can go ahead and file. But, it's possible they may end up telling you that you will need to complete Form W-7. If you go ahead and submit it now, maybe you'll have his ITIN in time for the April 17th deadline. But, obviously, it won't help you regarding the FAFSA.

Can you complete the FAFSA and say that you have not yet filed, but give a projected amount of adjusted earnings? I seem to remember some option for that when I used to complete the FAFSA for my son.

Good luck to you. Hope you get some answers soon.

Kat,

Last night I filled out the FAFSA and told them that my taxes were pending, so yes...good idea.

I am waiting for the people at the tax company to get back to me, so far they keep giving me incomplete answers...but the point about an ITIN number is a good one, I'll see what they say. I hope we don't need one though!

Thanks for the good advice!

Em

This is Canadian advice, but I'm guessing the US probably has a similar law.

In order to calculate my tax last year, I had to apply for a special number that was different from a Social Security Number for my Husband. This number was just so that they could identify him as a member of my household and give me the appropriate tax credits because he was living with me as a sponsored individual.

I think the info Whiterose gave you is probably along the same line....good luck!

Thanks all...

Seems I'm in a messy situation...the tax site that I've been filing with for years finally got back to me and said "oh, if he doesn't have an SSN then you can't use our site, sorry"...:eek:

Tomorrow I'll try to contact the IRS...I'm so not in the mood for this crap!