# Filing US taxes - better to file married jointly or married seperately?



## KQuigley (Jan 10, 2012)

Hi Everyone! 
I have an extension to file my taxes, and prior to getting married and moving to the UK, I used an online service called Turbo Tax and never had any issues. 

Now that I am (1) A US citizen living in the UK and (2) married to an EU national who has never lived or worked in the US - I wondered if anyone has any advice on how to file from their experience. 

I've done all of the filing paperwork (again using Turbo Tax - but you cant submit online if your partner doesnt have an SSN). 

Calculations look better filing married jointly rather than filing married seperately - but I am curious if we will then also have to submit all of my husband tax documents from the UK with my return? (he never earned any money in the US or lived there). 

Better yet - if anyone has a US tax accountant in London that won't charge an exhorbitant amount of money to prepare taxes that they can recommend, we would greatly appreciate it! 

Thanks in advance all!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

One big advantage to filing electronically is that you don't have to submit any of the backup documents. And actually, even if you mail in your forms, you don't need to submit any documents regarding your income unless you have US-issued W2s.

But if you're filing jointly with hubby you do realize, don't you, that you have to include his worldwide income - not just income from the US for him? This would include his salary and any investment income from within the UK. (And you will need to "roll back" the amounts to the US calendar tax year, rather than the UK April to April tax year. Not a huge task, but you can't just plunk the numbers in from the UK tax forms.)

You'll have to judge for your own situation which way of filing "looks" better or produces the better result. The IRS tends to expect that those of us married to NRAs will file as married filing separately. And there is still an open issue about the effects of filing jointly with a NRA spouse, though I've never heard of anyone being questioned or audited for using the FEIE on a non-resident spouse "electing" to be treated as a resident. Some NRA spouses do resent having their financial matters disclosed to the IRS and/or being "registered" for an ITIN with the US tax authorities. (Though once he has an ITIN, you will be able to use TurboTax to e-file again, I guess.)

And, filing separately, you'd have to have at least $10,000 in income in your own name (over and above the FEIE) before you would exceed the personal exemption and standard deduction and actually owe any taxes. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## KQuigley (Jan 10, 2012)

Bevdeforges said:


> One big advantage to filing electronically is that you don't have to submit any of the backup documents. And actually, even if you mail in your forms, you don't need to submit any documents regarding your income unless you have US-issued W2s.
> 
> But if you're filing jointly with hubby you do realize, don't you, that you have to include his worldwide income - not just income from the US for him? This would include his salary and any investment income from within the UK. (And you will need to "roll back" the amounts to the US calendar tax year, rather than the UK April to April tax year. Not a huge task, but you can't just plunk the numbers in from the UK tax forms.)
> 
> ...




Thanks Bev! Yes I do realize we'll need to declare all his income. He hasnt ever earned or worked in the US, just here in the UK - so that is all that would be declared. This seems a silly question - but he wont be taxed in the US on his non-US income if we file this way, am I correct? 

Basically the way I've worked it out is that I will only owe approximately $700USD if we file jointly, versus owing approximately $1800 if I file married separately! 

Thanks for your help in any case! 

Best
KQ


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Out of curiosity, have you tried a married filing separately tax calculation without taking the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, instead taking only the Foreign Tax Credit?


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## DavidMcKeegan (Aug 27, 2012)

Hello 

Although in many cases it is better to file married jointly, when your spouse is a non US citizen, it is often easiest to file separately (even though your personal exemption will be lessened). This is because if you include your husband on your return, not only will you have to obtain an ITIN for him (a process in itself), but you will also have to report his worldwide income and he could even be liable for US taxes!

If your husband plans on applying for a Greencard soon, then it may be worth it to file jointly as he will soon have to report his worldwide income to the states anyway. However if he has no intention of becoming a US citizen, then file separately and save yourself the extra reporting requirements.

I hope this helps!


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

David, it's easy to say "pay $1100 more and file separately" -- assuming that's the bottom line here -- but not everybody can do that. To most people $1100 is still a substantial amount of money that would be useful to the household.


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## DavidMcKeegan (Aug 27, 2012)

There is no question that $1100 would be helpful to any household... one just has to decide if it is worth the additional paperwork and reporting that would be needed every year.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

For what it's worth, our household decided to file jointly. There's not actually much (any?) extra paperwork, though there are slightly more data reported on the same forms. There's also a substantial tax savings for us every year.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Depends on lots of factors - including (but not limited to) tax rates, relative income of the partners, family structure, sources of the income of each partner, relevant tax treaties, etc, etc, etc. Anything reported to the IRS potentially becomes open to audit (though how carefully they'd go after the NRA spouse's reported income is up for discussion), so you plays the game and you takes your chances.
Cheers,
Bev


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