My yearly angst....

Tax time again....of course. Taking my wife off my US taxes for 2022 tax year since she is starting to get money from her pensions etc. The question is.... several of our savings accounts are in her name only (since the banks didn't want to touch a dirty American)..... do I have to put that money down on my taxes? .... only her name on the accounts.

If you are filing MFS (Married filing Separately) then I'm pretty sure that no income that is in your wife's name only should be included on your IRS return. That is the whole point of splitting your finances like you have.  She is responsible for filing her own IRS return but since she is not a US person and has zero US income she does not have to file.

Tax time again....of course. Taking my wife off my US taxes for 2022 tax year since she is starting to get money from her pensions etc. The question is.... several of our savings accounts are in her name only (since the banks didn't want to touch a dirty American)..... do I have to put that money down on my taxes? .... only her name on the accounts.

Did you initially file under IRC 603 g?

Did you initially file under IRC 603 g?

IRC § 6013(g)....I tried to read info on it...honestly. But I started drooling on the table in confusion.

I've been filing Married/joint for years. At this point she is just starting to take some money out of her UK pensions....no where near enough to trigger her UK taxes, but probably will next year. I was planning on just simplifying my US taxes by taking her off for the US 2022 tax year....I would end up owing a little US tax....but it just makes my life easier to take her off the US taxes. From what little I understood of the 6013 rule.....seems it was pointed at people trying to hide a lot of money. Or did I get it completely wrong....it was a really boring read....which I didn't finish.

Edit: I was under the impression that I could take her off my taxes....but couldn't put her on/off whenever I felt like it. If I took her off for 2022....that would be the end of using her on my taxes for good.

IRC § 6013(g)....I tried to read info on it...honestly. But I started drooling on the table in confusion.

I've been filing Married/joint for years. At this point she is just starting to take some money out of her UK pensions....no where near enough to trigger her UK taxes, but probably will next year. I was planning on just simplifying my US taxes by taking her off for the US 2022 tax year....I would end up owing a little US tax....but it just makes my life easier to take her off the US taxes. From what little I understood of the 6013 rule.....seems it was pointed at people trying to hide a lot of money. Or did I get it completely wrong....it was a really boring read....which I didn't finish.

Edit: I was under the impression that I could take her off my taxes....but couldn't put her on/off whenever I felt like it. If I took her off for 2022....that would be the end of using her on my taxes for good.

Is she a U.S. Person?

Assuming the wife is not a US person (citizen or green card holder) joint filing was only possible if you both elected (with ink signatures under section 6013(g) to file jointly in the past. If no election was ever made, the past filing statuses were invalid.

Assuming the wife is not a US person (citizen or green card holder) joint filing was only possible if you both elected (with ink signatures under section 6013(g) to file jointly in the past. If no election was ever made, the past filing statuses were invalid.

I’m pretty sure she is not a US person, and I think they have both lived in the USA for a number of years where they filed MFJ.

Wife is UK. We married in 2007. Moved to the US for 4 years in 2011. Been back in the UK since Spring 2015.

We've never signed anything special that I know of. Not that I can remember exactly....but I think I have been filing married/joint since that time.

Wife is UK. We married in 2007. Moved to the US for 4 years in 2011. Been back in the UK since Spring 2015.

We've never signed anything special that I know of. Not that I can remember exactly....but I think I have been filing married/joint since that time.

You would have been interviewed by a CAA, (advanced practitioners' before the IRS). I'm sure you'd remember such a momentous time, (Form CP565 - would have been received via IRS).

I wonder though if you could take your wife off your taxes for 2022 for filing in 2023. Say for example she won the lottery in 2022, you could revoke the election after the fact... Not sure. Obviously this would be for any income, U.K taxed or not.

Not sure whether the consensus is I can or cannot take my wife off my taxes.

If I were getting divorced....would I have to ask permission to take my wife off my taxes?

Not sure whether the consensus is I can or cannot take my wife off my taxes.

If I were getting divorced....would I have to ask permission to take my wife off my taxes?

You’d need to revoke in writing, stating you and your spouse have divorced. You’d then File as single. You or your wife can revoke the election for any reason at anytime, she can’t ever rejoin though.

You’d need to revoke in writing, stating you and your spouse have divorced. You’d then File as single. You or your wife can revoke the election for any reason at anytime, she can’t ever rejoin though.

That's what I thought. I was going to stick in a letter stating this same thing. No divorce though

Not sure whether the consensus is I can or cannot take my wife off my taxes.

If I were getting divorced....would I have to ask permission to take my wife off my taxes?

From what Guya says above you should never have been filing jointly in the past without a signature on some document so I don’t see a problem in filing as separate going forward. I don’t know how to fix the past.

I don’t know how to fix the past.

Boy....wouldn't that be nice to be able to do....

Wife is UK. We married in 2007. Moved to the US for 4 years in 2011. Been back in the UK since Spring 2015.

We've never signed anything special that I know of. Not that I can remember exactly....but I think I have been filing married/joint since that time.

Your spouse was a resident alien until 2015. From the 2016 US return (the first year she was a non-resident alien) you could only have filed jointly if you both signed in ink an election under IRC Section 6013(g) electing to file jointly.  If no such election was attached to the 2016 US return, the filing status used was invalid for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. I usually find this IRS guide quite helpful: https://www.irs.gov/pub/int_practice_units/JTO9431_02_09.PDF