GC holder - filing taxes

R

riseabove

New Member
hello,

I was married in Jan last year to a US citizen and recieved my GC in late summer. I got my ssn in september and then went back to the uk for 2 months as my father has beed admitted to hospirtal with (bipolar) mental illness. i am now back but i have not yet worked. When my wife files taxes in jan she was going to put me on her taxes as a dependant (since i havent worked)

However i have seen it written on this site that i need to file taxes to keep my GC valid??

Can anyone help me?

Thanks
 
spouses cannot be claimed as dependants on taxes. However, you should file a joint return with your wife as a US resident.
 
what do i need to do? My wife is at work but i know already she doesnt know how to file joint taxes.

Does it mean we just file one tax return with both of our names on it
 
You have the choice between filing jointly or separately. If you file jointly, your wife can claim exemptions and standard deductions (or itemized deductions) for you as joint filer, which will reduce her tax liability. Of course, she/you need to be sure to include your worldwide income, including any passive income (savings accounts in US or UK, etc.) you may have.

If you elect to file separately, your wife's tax would be higher, and some deductions she might qualify for might not be available. Even then, you may or may not have to file separately also, even if your personal income is below the threshold where you need to file, because if you happen to live in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin), half of your wife's income may be considered yours.

In short, for your situation this year, it makes a whole lot of financial sense to file jointly, as the other posters have already suggested.
 
riseabove said:
what do i need to do? My wife is at work but i know already she doesnt know how to file joint taxes.

Does it mean we just file one tax return with both of our names on it
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Yes, you file one return with both names. Both spouses sign the return. 2 exemptions if you don't have kids. Joint standard deduction (or itemize). Both of your worldwide income needs to be included. Both of you are jointly and severally liable for paying any amount due. The 1040 (or 1040A or 1040EZ) instructions should explain everything you need if your case is nice and easy (standard deduction, W2 income, maybe some interest from bank accounts, no mortgage or capital gains). No more complicated than filing for a GC. If she doesn't have anything unusual, there's inexpensive (and in some cases free) tax software that will do it all for her. But it's quite instructive to go through it on your own without software.

Your only choice from now on is "filing jointly" or "filing separately." No more single filing.

If you have earned money in the UK and paid taxes in the UK, and would like a foreign tax credit, that may turn out to be the most complicated form you need to file and many software packages won't do foreign tax credits.
 
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LucyMO said:
spouses cannot be claimed as dependants on taxes. However, you should file a joint return with your wife as a US resident.
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On a joint tax return, you can claim an exemption for yourself and your spouse, even if one of you did not work and/or had no income for the entire tax year. This has the same tax benefit as if you were to claim a dependent.
 
yes, but not claim a spouse as a dependant. You get to claim an exemption for a spouse regardless of their work status. The OP says that the wife wants to claim him as a dependant because he doesn't work. These are different things.
 
asPapi said:
On a joint tax return, you can claim an exemption for yourself and your spouse, even if one of you did not work and/or had no income for the entire tax year. This has the same tax benefit as if you were to claim a dependent.
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Agreed on the effect of the exemption, however pretty much everything else on the return is different for "single filer with dependant" and "joint return" so I think LucyMo was correct in pointing out the difference.
 
I am sure that the OP meant claiming an exemption for the spouse. That is what most non-Accountants mean when they say "claim a spouse as a dependent".
 
the easiest way - to get Taxcut or Turbotax, and do it yourself. However, if you had income abroad AFTER you became an LPR (remember, you can't work overseas without a temporary work visa, because that proves that you took up residence in a different country and may cause a loss of your US permanent residency), those programs may not be able to handle foreign income exclusions, like somebody mentioned above.
 
LucyMO said:
you can't work overseas without a temporary work visa, because that proves that you took up residence in a different country
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I wouldn't make such a blanket statement. I could easily go to work in Canada for a temporary duration without a visa, since I am a citizen. That alone would not automatically be considered abandonment of my permanent residency, or taking up residence in Canada.

those programs may not be able to handle foreign income exclusions, like somebody mentioned above.
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Both can handle foreign income and foreign tax credits. I've had foreign dividend income with withheld taxes for years and both TurboTax and TaxCut can handle it. They even support tax treaty declarations for Canadian RRSPs nowadays.
 
claire122 said:
if one person works, can his/her spouse apply for unemployment?
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I think the details of this vary from state to state. Read up on it on your state's labor department, workforce commission etc. website whatever it might be called there. I think generally yes, someone with a working spouse will qualify, but the amount or length of time of compensation could be different than if the spouse/children also depend on the unemployed person's income. Of course, in general, to qualify for unemployment compensation you have to actively be seeking employment.
 
claire122 said:
if one person works, can his/her spouse apply for unemployment?
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Provided that the non-working spouse is eligible for UI, by having worked in a job where either the employer or the person in question contributed UI premiums. And as austriacus, the non-working spouse needs to be actively seeking employment (and eligible to work) in order to collect.

One does not become eligible through one's spouse in any state that I am aware of.
 
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