# Filling out the new 1040



## pink19 (May 29, 2018)

I have been posting alot here recently, but i am just starting to work on my taxes, and being this is the first time i have ever touched taxes in my life i just want to make sure i am doing things right. I am very confused about the 1040 form, taxes are basically a foreign language to me and i am trying to learn as much as i can, so bear with me. 

I have sat down and looked over the forms i am going to likely need to fill out, this includes the 1040, schedule 1 (i guess this is something to do with FEIE?), Schedule 6, Form 2555, and I am very unsure whether i need to fill out schedule b even though none of my banks accounts have been over a total jointly of 10,000$ at any time. 

I mean my income is very basic, I have made less than 12,000 USD in 2018, I just dont really know how to put the pieces together. My main questions for the 1040 are :

It says in the first part of the 1040 'If joint return, spouse's first name and initial' This isnt a joint return? it is married filing seperatly, do i still need to put my spouses information? 

And then how do i actually submit my wages into it? do I submit the full ammount in $ even though I was paid in pounds? Do i submit what i made before or after the tax i paid in the UK?

Also for schedule 1, is the only reason i need to really include that for is for the foreign earned income exclusion? 
And do i even need to include a schedule b? me and my husband have 2 joint bank accounts in the uk, but we do not have to fill in the fbar because we never had enough in the accounts, on part 3 of the schedule it says 

you must complete this part if you (a) had over $1,500 of taxable interest or ordinary dividends; (b) had a
foreign account; or (c) received a distribution from, or were a grantor of, or a transferor to, a foreign trust. 
7 a

At any time during 2018, did you have a financial interest in or signature authority over a financial
account (such as a bank account, securities account, or brokerage account) located in a foreign 8If “Yes,” are you required to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), to report that financial interest or signature authority? See FinCEN Form 114
and its instructions for filing requirements and exceptions to those requirements

So i am unsure if i need to fill in form 114, i as i said i do have joint bank accounts with my husband, but we are not at the threshold to file the fbar form.

Sorry this is all over the place, im in way over my head and i just need to get this sorted out, thank you.


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

Sorry... very quick response here... no doubt others will chime in shortly...

Schedules 1 through 6 are for the most part all things that used to be on the 1040 itself. To make the forms appear simpler they simple split them out... all smoke and mirrors really.

You need schedule 1 to input the amount that comes out of form 2555 - remember to enter the amount as a negative.

Form 6 is there to reduce the size of the address fields on the 1040. 

You will need to fill schedule B. Complete Parts I and II if you had bank interest or dividends. Pretty much any US person living outside the US needs to complete Part III. Remember to convert interest and / or dividends into USD. If you recieved none, then they can be left blank, but you will need to complete the three questions in part III.

Convert your income into USD. Given the differences in tax years, you will need to use your payslips to figure out your calendar year salary. Technically you are meant to use the exchange rate on the date of each pay but if it is a standard wage that did not vary, you can use the published annual rate. 

FinCEN Form 114 is also known as the FBAR. So if you are below the FBAR filing threshold then you do not need to file Form 114 with FinCEN.


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## pink19 (May 29, 2018)

In the last few hours i have been using a free file turbo tax form, it seems to be taking me through all of the correct steps in terms of my FEIE, asking about my banks accounts, etc, is this a okay thing to follow on with and complete or do i have to fill out all the forms by hand?


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

If you can file using the free file Turbo Tax thing, then go ahead and do it. A couple of possible "gotchas" though:

If you are filing "married, filing separately" and your NRA spouse doesn't have a US SSN there's a reasonable chance that you can't e-file. That has at least been the case the last several years. If the IRS rejects your attempted e-filing, just print off the forms from the Turbo Tax program and mail them in.

If Turbo Tax won't let you print them for any reason, take screen shots of the completed forms. Or, in a real pinch, just copy the input onto printed out versions of the forms. Make sure to keep a copy of what you're filing for your own records. But you can then mail in paper copies if the system rejects your e-filing for any reason.



> So i am unsure if i need to fill in form 114, i as i said i do have joint bank accounts with my husband, but we are not at the threshold to file the fbar form.


You need to file FBAR (FinCEN 114) if the total of all accounts in your name or held jointly with your husband was over $10,000 at any point during 2018. Filing the FinCEN/FBAR is a separate thing from filing your taxes. https://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/NoRegFilePDFIndividualFBAR.html
On the FBAR you report the highest balance in each account during 2018 - and yes, you report the full high balance for accounts you hold jointly.

Everything should be reported in US $. You can use the yearly average exchange rates here: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates


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## pink19 (May 29, 2018)

Where do i declare any interest on our joint savings account? we have very little, but i wasnt sure where to declare it


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

pink19 said:


> Where do i declare any interest on our joint savings account? we have very little, but i wasnt sure where to declare it


Line 2 is for interest - 2a for non-taxable interest, and 2b for the taxable kind.

On joint savings accounts you may or may not want to include that - but no more than one-half of the interest if you're filing separately. There are a number of justifications for NOT including interest from joint accounts (example: if your spouse was the source of all or most deposits into the account and you just have signature authority over the account) - unless you're talking about large numbers, whether you declare it or not probably won't make any difference. What the banks declare to the IRS is (at least at the moment) only the year-end balance of the account. There are plenty of bank accounts that you report (on your FinCEN forms) that don't pay any interest at all.


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## pink19 (May 29, 2018)

thanks so much, my last question is that i have jsut completed my tax return on the free file turbo tax website, but it wont let me print off my return unless i register with turbotx, which it wont allow to do without a US address, so does this mean i have to start all over again with a different program now? Or could i use my parents US address?


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## pink19 (May 29, 2018)

I just wanted to complete this once and for all so i ended up just putting in my parents address to complete the turbo tax registration, and it has now let me view and print my tax forms, i hope that isnt a mistake, thanks for everything !


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Yeah - Turbo Tax used to be OK for overseas returns, but I noticed this year that when I did the little wizard thing for the Free File sites, the only ones that came up were companies I had never heard of.

I don't think it should be a problem that you used your parents' address. Some folks use their tax preparer's address in the US, so it's not a hugely big deal.


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