Filing 2016 Taxes

I am an American citizen and my husband is a British citizen. We both worked in the US from January 2016 - May 2016 as W2 employees. We then relocated to the UK and he became employed by a British employer. I continued working for my American company but as a 1099 contract employee. I was advised that I needed to pay taxes on my earnings to the UK and not the US (which I haven't yet done, but I assume I need to call the HMRC to sort this out). While contracting for my US employer I also picked up a very low paying part time job with a British employer in August.

We take the standard deduction and the only other thing I claim is student loan interest.

Also, my husband had health insurance from January - May however I did not.

Considering all these factors, I am looking for advice on if I could possibly file this on my own or if I should get professional help. If on my own, what is the best software to use? I believe the UK tax system runs from April - April so how do I report these earnings on my 2016 US tax return?

You may well find that you are employed rather than self-employed - you'd want to look at employment status rules within the UK. If it turns out that you are engaged as an employee you would have a huge bunch more rights.

What visa did your husband have in the US? Once you qualify, are you planning on electing to claim the foreign earned income exclusion?

You are 4 or so months too early to file in the US for 2016 claiming the foreign earned income exclusion.

Male sure you understand the difference between an employee and a contractor. If you are getting a 1099-MISC then you would be a contractor.....not an employee. If the work was done in the UK you would have to pay both UK income and payroll taxes.

I am assuming you will be filing separately from your husband.

Once I moved to the UK I became a contractor and I am receiving a 1099-MISC for all of the work I did while in the UK so I know I need to pay taxes on that income here in the UK, so I guess I will call the HMRC to discuss that with them?

My husband had a green card while in the US, I'm wondering if it's more beneficial for us to file together or separate? While we were both W2 employees in the US we were having the most amount of taxes withheld from our checks and since he's moved to the UK he's been an employee and paying taxes here. Will he have to report his UK income to the US or does he only need to report his US income?

Has the green card been abandoned? If so, is your husband a covered expatriate?

On what basis do you believe you are self-employed? Have you used HMRCs status tool to verify your status within the UK: http://tools.hmrc.gov.uk/esi/screen/ESI/en-GB/summary?user=guest

The engager of your work can label you a contractor if they like, but if you are a worker with employment rights the engager cannot simply ignore these. The recent UK Uber case highlights some of the issues: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37802386

Will he have to report his UK income to the US or does he only need to report his US income?

That depends on whether the IRS considers him to be resident......how long did he have the green card and has an 8854 and an I-407 been filed?