Anything I missed?

Just cranked out a copy of TurboTax.....and as usual I still feel like I have very little clue as to what I am doing. Jeez I wish they would just go with a basic tax system without all the silly deductions. For the first time in my life......I owe taxes.....damn.... $33. I did sell a bunch of mutual funds back in Sept though. Even though the program said my wife could still be used as a deduction.....I don't see anything on the print out stating so, just the $6200 for me.

1. I need to mail it in.....they didn't really tell me why, just that I needed to do it.
2. If I remember correctly from earlier posts....if I am trying to remove my wife from my US taxes starting this year (married filing separate)....I think I needed to send in a letter stating that from now on my wife would no longer be included on my tax returns. Which would have required me to mail it in anyway. Yes? Or am I just in a tax funk haze?
3. Shouldn't have to worry about FATCA or FBAR since any money in UK accounts are only in my wife's name. And I plan to keep it that way....sure hope she doesn't ditch me and run off with a neighbor

House goes up for sale on Monday.....then the VISA issue begins if/when it sells. The wife's parents have been harassing people/officials trying to get their house on the registry files......they supposedly have done it but it hasn't shown up on the online site yet. They are mailing a copy to us anyway. 

Is your wife a US person or a non-person? Have you needed to elect jointly in the past? If so, did you make that election and do you now wish to revoke this? Do you qualify to claim an exemption for your spouse?

Is your wife a US person or a non-person? She is UK, with a green card that we will be getting rid of as soon as possible when we move. Have you needed to elect jointly in the past? I have been filing jointly....for no particular reason. If so, did you make that election and do you now wish to revoke this? I wish to take her off the IRS books completely.  Do you qualify to claim an exemption for your spouse? That's one I am trying to figure out if I screwed up in TurboTax....it asked me about it and said I would get one for her, but then I couldn't see anything on the completed form.

I was doing the TurboTax online......and then at the end when I was about to run off a copy there is a statement something about if I poke that button then I wouldn't be able to change the form at all. I did not poke that button.

With what tax planning I have in my head.....we are keeping our UK money in my wife's UK account and I will have a small account my pension and eventually SS will come into....and I bleed off enough to my wife's account not to be hit with FATCA/FBAR. I should be only taxed on my Govt pension in the US....I think. My SS will only be taxed in the UK. Any money taken out of my TSP(Govt retirement) should only be taxed in the US?? or Vanguard (already changed to ETF) but not sure how that would be taxed.

If you've filed jointly with an NRA spouse and elected to have her taxed as a resident you get a chance to back track and file married separately and have here as an NRA again by ending in that letter to revoke that choice. As long as your NRA spouse has no US tax liability you can claim an exemption for them.


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If you've filed jointly with an NRA spouse and elected to have her taxed as a resident you get a chance to back track and file married separately and have here as an NRA again by ending in that letter to revoke that choice. As long as your NRA spouse has no US tax liability you can claim an exemption for them. Yep, that's what I read as well. I just have to go back and see if TurboTax actually gave me credit for her or not. I saw my exemption.....I was foaming at the mouth by then so I stopped working on it until I had a better attitude. No income whatsoever from her.


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Apologies but I may have missed or forgotten the reasoning behind this in earlier threads but filing as MFS instead of MFJ is likely to be more expensive.  You are not going to be moving to the UK until US tax year 2015 so why give up the tax break on MFJ for 2014?

Does giving up her Green Card in 2015 become easier if you didn't do MFJ in 2014?

If you've filed jointly with an NRA spouse and elected to have her taxed as a resident you get a chance to back track and file married separately and have here as an NRA again by ending in that letter to revoke that choice. As long as your NRA spouse has no US tax liability you can claim an exemption for them.


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Was she not a Resident Alien in 2014?  Can you put her down as NRA for 2014 when she was actually in the USA?

Apologies but I may have missed or forgotten the reasoning behind this in earlier threads but filing as MFS instead of MFJ is likely to be more expensive.  You are not going to be moving to the UK until US tax year 2015 so why give up the tax break on MFJ for 2014?

Does giving up her Green Card in 2015 become easier if you didn't do MFJ in 2014?

There were some comments (likely nun or theOAP) ages ago about a 7-8 year rule?? on changing over to filing separately. I haven't really got a clue and am hoping to try running the TurboTax again (if the damn thing lets me) with some other numbers including filing jointly. Should have just bought the desktop version......

This is where I am tempted to panic and just pay somebody to do it for me.....but....I really do have what I consider about as simple of a return as you can get under the circumstances. Again I say.......death to the US tax code!!!

Was she not a Resident Alien in 2014?  Can you put her down as NRA for 2014 when she was actually in the USA?

Yep.....other than 2 weeks back in the UK for a visit.

There were some comments (likely nun or theOAP) ages ago about a 7-8 year rule?? on changing over to filing separately. I haven't really got a clue and am hoping to try running the TurboTax again (if the damn thing lets me) with some other numbers including filing jointly. Should have just bought the desktop version......

This is where I am tempted to panic and just pay somebody to do it for me.....but....I really do have what I consider about as simple of a return as you can get under the circumstances. Again I say.......death to the US tax code!!!

You can definitely do your US taxes for 2014 using TurboTax, stick with it, I don't think paying someone else will get you much of an advantage.

You can definitely do your US taxes for 2014 using TurboTax, stick with it, I don't think paying someone else will get you much of an advantage.

Oh....I know. But when I was plugging things in I got to the end and then noticed it didn't ask for the 1099-B.....but I had downloaded all of Vanguards info without asking for it in particular. I tried some manual numbers that came out the same so I guess it just did it without my seeing it happen.

I just keep thinking how easy taxes would be if they lowered everyone's taxes and cut all deductions. People in power are not going to let that happen if it's an advantage to them.

Oh....I know. But when I was plugging things in I got to the end and then noticed it didn't ask for the 1099-B.....but I had downloaded all of Vanguards info without asking for it in particular. I tried some manual numbers that came out the same so I guess it just did it without my seeing it happen.

I just keep thinking how easy taxes would be if they lowered everyone's taxes and cut all deductions. People in power are not going to let that happen if it's an advantage to them.

Don't hold your breath, the tax code never gets simplified, in fact it is now ~74,000 pages long.

Here is a nice picture showing how it has grown over the years.

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-how-many-pages-in-us-tax-code.html#.VPJNYrqCOrU

Don't hold your breath, the tax code never gets simplified, in fact it is now ~74,000 pages long.

Here is a nice picture showing how it has grown over the years.

http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2014/04/2014-how-many-pages-in-us-tax-code.html#.VPJNYrqCOrU

That is one of the most depressing graphs I've ever seen.  Particularly since one of the biggest jumps (percentage wise) in recent decades is right after the much vaunted Tax Reform Act of 1986 purported to simplify the tax code (lovingly referred to as the Accountant's Guaranteed Lifetime Employment Act of 1986).   

This is where I am tempted to panic and just pay somebody to do it for me.....but....I really do have what I consider about as simple of a return as you can get under the circumstances. Again I say.......death to the US tax code!!!

Here, here!

When I was a young, and I'll admit rather naive, woman I believed fully that the US stood strongly against cruel and unusual punishment and strongly for human rights... yet each year in the months leading up to April 15th I wouldn't be surprised if a large percentage of the US citizenry would prefer to undergo root canals while stretched on a rack, if only they could get out of doing their taxes. 

Here, here!

When I was a young, and I'll admit rather naive, woman I believed fully that the US stood strongly against cruel and unusual punishment and strongly for human rights... yet each year in the months leading up to April 15th I wouldn't be surprised if a large percentage of the US citizenry would prefer to undergo root canals while stretched on a rack, if only they could get out of doing their taxes. 

$0-$10,000 === no income tax, just the usual SS etc.
$10,001- $30,000 === 5%
$30,001- $50,000 === 10%
$50,001- $100,000 === 15%
$100,001- $500,000 === 18%
$500K ++++ give them their own state (maybe Texas....sorry durhamlad) and let them fight it out     As Foghorn Leghorn would say....."That's a joke, son! You missed it! Flew right past ya!"

No deductions. No exemptions. No write-offs. No idea (I mean really no idea) if it would work and raise enough money, but boy would it make everything a breeze. 

$0-$10,000 === no income tax, just the usual SS etc.
$10,001- $30,000 === 5%
$30,001- $50,000 === 10%
$50,001- $100,000 === 15%
$100,001- $500,000 === 18%
$500K ++++ give them their own state (maybe Texas....sorry durhamlad) and let them fight it out     As Foghorn Leghorn would say....."That's a joke, son! You missed it! Flew right past ya!"

No deductions. No exemptions. No write-offs. No idea (I mean really no idea) if it would work and raise enough money, but boy would it make everything a breeze. 

Are you day-dreaming instead of doing your tax return?