You might be aware of How to file a US income tax returns online but if you are worried about Filing Us Tax Returns When Living Abroad, then the rules and procedures are a bit different as US tax filing which you need to do will be the Expat taxes.
Expat tax is Us Tax Returns For Non Residents.If you have a spouse who is not a US resident for taxation, then there are several options that you can consider before planning your taxes. In this blog, we will list down a few of those options that you can consider, and selecting each option has its pros and cons, as the available standard deductions and exemptions might vary with each selected option. Therefore, if you are looking for some assistance related to Expat taxes, then you can surely consider hiring the services of one of the best Expat services, USA Expat Taxes.
We have a long experience in dealing with all sorts of matters related to Expat taxes and our Experts have the required expertise to go through even the minute details and get you the best deal. Now, let’s get into the option that is present before you if you are Filing Jointly with a Non-Resident Spouse.
Filing Married Filing Separately
This is the default option that is presented by the IRS for a US citizen who is married to a non-resident alien spouse. Though there are no specific problems you might encounter while filing the taxes but you might miss some of the deductions and exemptions that were previously available to you. This might result in overall higher tax liability to you. One downside is that, if you are married to a non-resident spouse and you do not have any dependents to claim at present, then you might have to go with this option.
Filing Head of Household
A better option that we suggest is to use the option of Head of Household filing status. There are some of the technical rules that you might be fulfilling to use these options. This can result in lower tax liability as you can use a range of tax credits to offset your overall tax liability. In this approach, you need to pick a dependent but one thing must be noted that you will not be able to claim your spouse as a dependent if living abroad.
Filing Married Filing Jointly
This option is the final one available to you, in this approach you can treat your nonresident spouse as a US resident for tax purposes. If you are ready to take this way, then you can move ahead and file the returns as Married filing jointly (MFJ). You might get a plethora of standard deductions available, but in this case, the Spouse needs to subject all the income to US taxation. This approach is suggested in general when most of the income your spouse generates is from US sources only and comparatively a very low income is generated from outside the US.
These are some of the options available to you if you are Filing Jointly with a Non-Resident Spouse. There are some technical nuances and minute observations that must be kept in mind before selecting one of the above choices and a few more available, therefore in case you feel you might need the help of a professional who can be trusted and has long professional experience then you can always consider to contact us at USA Expat Taxes.