My American wife and her taxes

Hi There, in the past this forum has been a great support in getting my wife's visa to be here with me in UK.

Back in September 2019 she recieved her fiance visa and following our marriage in November her FLR(M). She recieved her BRP card in December 2019

At the very end of December 2019 she earned maybe £80 or so, very little as she had only just started working.

I am now figuring out how to catch up on her US taxes as she eventually recieved all her W-2 from her work in US during 2019 (January 2019 through to September 2019).

Normally she would do turbo tax and file as single but I have a feeling our marriage regardless of where it happened, when it happened or who I am now means she needs to file as married. The issue we have is we are now in the UK and it is extremely complicated to know how she can file her w-2's for 2019.

I am really hoping someone can help clear our next steps up, her earnings were around $20k in the US. I know she could probably just file as single but our plan is to go back to the US at some point and I don't want something like this getting in the way (we won't be relying on her income but a US family member affidavit of support, I just don't know if they will look at her tax history as well as the supporting family member)

Thank you

She is married so definitely should not file as single, no matter where she lives.  She should file as "Married Filing Separate" to keep your income and assets out of the way. 

She can still file using TurboTax, both myself and my son have done so this last 3  years.

First thing I would do is immediately file for an extension through to October 15th.  This is to avoid falling foul of the ACA health insurance policy mandate and also to exclude the £80 she earned.  To do both she needs to have been physically out of the country for 330 days.  There is no penalty these days for not having health insurance for part of the year but you do have to declare it I believe and be subject to the penalty of $0. To exclude the foreign earnings is very easy in TurboTax provided you have been out of the country for a year (uses form 2555 to exclude up to $100k).

If you don't want to wait then I'm sure the extra £80 income will be a trivial increase in taxes on $20k income but I would definitely declare it.

E-filing with TurboTax still works from abroad and does not require addition of any W2 copies. She can also print out a return and send it in but will need to attach copies of W2s.

She is married so definitely should not file as single, no matter where she lives.  She should file as "Married Filing Separate" to keep your income and assets out of the way. 

She can still file using TurboTax, both myself and my son have done so this last 3  years.

First thing I would do is immediately file for an extension through to October 15th.  This is to avoid falling foul of the ACA health insurance policy mandate and also to exclude the £80 she earned.  To do both she needs to have been physically out of the country for 330 days.  There is no penalty these days for not having health insurance for part of the year but you do have to declare it I believe and be subject to the penalty of $0. To exclude the foreign earnings is very easy in TurboTax provided you have been out of the country for a year (uses form 2555 to exclude up to $100k).

If you don't want to wait then I'm sure the extra £80 income will be a trivial increase in taxes on $20k income but I would definitely declare it.

Thank you for the reply
We looked at doing married filing separately on turbo tax bit it requires the spouses social security number. How did you get around this?

Thanks

Thank you for the reply
We looked at doing married filing separately on turbo tax bit it requires the spouses social security number. How did you get around this?

Thanks

I've not had that problem as my wife and I file MFJ but there are plenty of questions like that on the forum.  For printed forms I believe you enter NRA instead of a SS number. (Non Resident Alien) I can't remember what the work-around is using TurboTax.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will give an answer.

Here is the answer from the TurboTax Intuit Community support. Unfortunately the return has to be printed and mailed in.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/ssn-for-a-nra-spouse/01/442767#M182040

SSN for a NRA Spouse
I am living abroad with my spouse. He is a Non resident alien to the United States and it will not allow me to go forward without entering his SSN, but he does not have one. What do I need to do?
TurboTax Deluxe Online
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1 Best answer
DoninGA
Level 15 DoninGA
Level 15
‎June 4, 2019 3:27 PM
If you are a US citizen and your spouse does not have a Social Security number or an ITIN and you are not applying for an ITIN with the tax return then you can only file your tax return as Married Filing Separately.  Where asked to enter the spouse's Social Security number enter 999-88-9999.  You can only print and mail your tax return, it cannot be e-filed.  When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for the procedure to print and mail a tax return using the online editions - https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1944348-how-do-i-print-and-mail-my-return-in-turbotax-online

I just had a thought.
I had a SSN back in 2017 when I was over there for 1 year on a j1 visa.
Can I use this?

I just had a thought.
I had a SSN back in 2017 when I was over there for 1 year on a j1 visa.
Can I use this?

Most definitely. A SSN is for life.  That would be perfect and means e-filing can be done.

Most definitely. A SSN is for life.  That would be perfect and means e-filing can be done.

Thank you, it seems to have went through fine!

Thank you, it seems to have went through fine!

Brilliant!! Well done.