# No SS # and cannot apply for an ITIN



## sealedwithmyhug (Jan 5, 2016)

Hello! Here is my husband's situation. My husband became a US green holder on the 19th of December. We have returned to the Netherlands to try and find a job in the USA and to sell our house, ship our things, etc. If my husband does not find a job we will stay here and he will give up his green card later in the year.

However, since my husband was a US green card holder for a whopping 12 days in 2015 I understand he has to file taxes for 2015. I am an American citizen but a housewife and have never had to file and this is the first year I have to file a FBAR and will. 

The problem lies in that my husband has not gotten a social security number. I am not sure if it is going to arrive but chances are it is not since only about 50% of the time a new immigrant that ticked the box on one of the green card forms actually does. We visited the SS office last Thursday, 13 days after my husband entered the USA. The guy did not have my husband's info in the system and said it could show up it could not. 

If the information does not show up and we are not going to end up immigrating to the USA my husband still has to file the taxes and he is a green card holder and not eligible for an ITIN from what I understand and he cannot get a social security number in a timely manner (if at all) from the Netherlands or our nearest SS office branch in Dublin. Nobody at the SS office will answer questions and says to come in person but we are abroad. 

If we end up immigrating within the next 170 some days then this is not going to be an issue as we can still file at the June 15th deadline for living overseas in 2015 and we can go to the ss office and he can get a card quickly. I don't want to buy a plane ticket and send him to the USA to visit an office but I also don't want to get into trouble for not filing the taxes.

So, my question is what do you do if you cannot get an ITIN and you might not have a SS number (though entitled to one) without going to the USA to get one. Is there something I am missing? I have looked and googled and I cannot find anyone with this situation.

We applied for the green card under the pretense his employer was going to allow him to work remotely but when the process was nearly done his company got a new CEO and told him he could not do that. Now we do not want to move unless he has a job lined up (finding one without a SS # is also going to be a challenge I fear) due to no health insurance and myself not working. So are okay giving up the green card but for 2015 and 2016 taxes will need to be filed and I want to buy a plane ticket as a last resort to send my husband to a ss office. I wish the man at the ss office last week were more helpful as he could have applied for the card then but he was told that he should wait some months, but that was conflicting to what most expat forums have said and most people can apply for a SS card within a couple of weeks of arriving in the USA on a green card. We tried.

Any information on how to file would be helpful. I have read you cannot apply for the ITIN if you are a citizen of the USA or a green card holder that has permission to work and can file for a SS number but I cannot find anything where they say if you are overseas and unable to apply for the SS number from overseas (I read that you used to be able to but no longer, unless you are a citizen born abroad). 

This was long, and I hope I made sense. Thank you!

We are going to call the IRS soon. I am worried and we will not owe any taxes due to making less than the 100K foreign income threshold and our situation is not complicated at all. I suppose in a way it is out of our hands and we just have to wait and see. Best case scenario he will get the SS card at my dad's and we have the number or we do immigrate in the next few months and we can sort it out there. 

I don't want the IRS on our back.

Thank you for any information you can give me either about this situation or how to find information on the situation.


----------



## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

File for an extension until October (I think it is). That should give you enough time to figure out what the status is of your husband's SSN - and to decide if it's worth it for him to go back to the US to claim it. IIRC, you can file for an extension more or less without having to give a reason, but if you have to give a reason, just say that you are in the process of relocating or something like that.

Buys you a few months at any rate to sort out what you want to do.
Cheers,
Bev


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

To get that extension Bev refers to use IRS Form 4868. Please note that FinCEN Form 114 is still due when it's due per its instructions. IRS Form 4868 is only to extend the filing deadline for a tax return. (That will change in the future, and the deadlines will be the same with the same process for requesting an extension, but not yet as far as I know.)


----------



## sealedwithmyhug (Jan 5, 2016)

*Thank you!*

Thank you so much Bev. I had not looked into that option because I was not sure if you needed a SS# to file the extension. We won't owe anything but I really don't want to start off on the wrong foot with the IRS, especially if my husband ever applies for another green card or goes for citizenship some day.

I am going to file the FBAR in my name. My husband's names are on some of the accounts so we will include that information and file together but I have not looked at the form so I am not sure if he needs a SS # or ITIN to include his names. They are all the same accounts, but will have a look at it and plan to file mine in plenty of time. I have all the info from the highest amounts and dates sorted.

Thank you! 

I will wait another month or so to see if the SS card turns up and if not then we will apply for the extension. We have plenty of time and don't have to file until June anyway so I will be on that.

Thank you!!!

Bobbi Jo


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Just to clarify, your husband has his own FinCEN Form 114 filing requirement, but (if you haven't already) check page 6 of the instructions to see if your reports can be combined into a single report.


----------



## sealedwithmyhug (Jan 5, 2016)

Will do, thank you! I think I read it can be combined but not sure if you have to have a SS # or an ITIN for that and if not I will file together and if so I am going to go ahead and file so I am not in trouble with them as well. At least with my husband we do have a valid excuse and are trying to do the right thing. Just hard when you are in another country and stuck waiting on a SS# or not able to get one at all. I have a feeling if we don't move in the next few months then he will have to fly over and sort it out so he can file the taxes on time.


----------



## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

This is why the due dates are in April, June, and even as late as October. (Ever had a baby in late December? ) It's January. You can postpone your panicking.


----------

