Can my husband and I file taxes jointly in Italy but separately in America?

Question

I am an American citizen, married to an Italian citizen and a legal resident in Italy. We just filed our taxes in Italy, jointly. I now need to file in America and I assumed as Married filing singly. Will our situation be seen as a discrepancy? Obviously, my husband wouldn't have to file in America too. Thank you!

Answer 1

It is your choice to file jointly or married filing separately, but if you do file jointly you will include your spouses income as taxable in the U.S.
So it may be to your advantage to just pay U.S. tax on your income and it is your choice as to how you file in this situation.
To just file your income, you'd file as 'Married filing Separately'

on this link to IRS Pub 519, look under "Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident"

Answer 2

No problem with filing that way. Your Italian return and your American one are totally separate.

It is possible to file a joint return in the US, however, if your husband agrees to have his world-wide income taxed by the US. You'd possibly be eligible for the Foreign Earned Income exclusion or a credit for foreign income taxes paid and MIGHT have a lower tax bill overall that way.

Get copies of IRS Pub 54 (for you) and IRS Pub 519 (for your hubby) along with a copy of IRS Pub 501 (for both of you) and figure your taxes both ways and see which costs you less in the long run.

If you do decide that a joint return would be best for you, your hubby will need an ITIN to file a joint return. You can attach a copy of Form W-7 to your first return to request that. Just mail that return to the Austin TX Service Center (not Philadelphia as the form says) and the IRS will process the ITIN request, apply it to your joint return, and process the return.

Answer 3

Yes.

However, you need to know that there is a US-Italy Income Tax Treaty and the treaty provides for exchange of information between the Italian authorities and US authorities (IRS).

The Italian filing status is not relevant to your 1040. However, US law requires you to report global income, and you are allowed to deduct income taxes you pay on your income outside the US. You may also be able to exclude some $81,000 of foreign income from US taxation, depending on the facts and circumstances.

This is very complex and not for amateurs.

Being wrong can be very expensive.

Answer 4

you will just about relatively do better submitting a joint return. you would be eligible for $2500-2700 for EIC that way, and in case you report one after the different you supply that up. considering you have a baby to declare, you do no longer ought to be 25 pass get EIC. you will no longer owe any federal earnings tax, so which you will get returned something that became into withheld for federal earnings tax, and you additionally must get something from the added baby tax credit. Plus you will very probably get $3 hundred for the toddler because of the rebate restoration technique.

Answer 5

Considering the fact that the IRS does not see any foreign tax filings, there should be no problems, so long as your husband did not earn any wages in the U.S.