Good people of the dope, I’ve got a couple of questions I want to run by you experts of all things scientific, legal, and cool.
The Census:
In the race-origin area of my census form It says that “For the purposes of this census, Hispanic origin is NOT a race”. I am of Hispanic origin, so I go ahead and mark that as yes and enter my country of birth. But then it asks for my race, with no option for Hispanic, and the note mentioned above - “Hispanic origins is not a race for the purposes of this census”.
So then what am I supposed to put in the race box?
Taxes:
I was married last year and I’m filing separately from her - we are not filing jointly, in fact she is not filing at all. According to a tax expert I spoke to and my lawyer, I don’t need to put any info on my wife. Simply that I am married and that I’m filing separately from her. No need for her name or SS#.
However, when I went to e-file, turbo tax would not let me do so without entering that information for her. Fine, I plan to file over the mail. But, I just wanted to triple check with you guys, is this indeed fine?
Thank you for your time. I have some cookies* I am willing to hand out to those kind souls willing to help me out.
Allow 4 - 6 weeks for delivery. Cookies are not guaranteed to be delicious after 4-6 week shipping.
For the census question, to can fill out your race with whatever applies. Are you of primarily European descent? Or were your ancestors natives, or black? You can mark more than one if applicable. But the idea is to separate out the question of origins from the question of race, which is particularly a big deal in Latin America given that mixed-race coupling in places like Brazil, for instance, has been a lot more common for a much longer time than in the U.S.
On question 2, your tax expert and lawyer are just wrong. It says right on the form, next to Box 3, “Married filing separately. Enter spouse’s SSN above and full name here.” If you were filing jointly, which is definitely an option even if your spouse has no income, you’d put her name in the “Label” section. It’s well worth your while to try it both ways and see which comes out better, BTW.
Not sure why you would not want to file a joint return with your wife. Filing jointly you would have two deductions, you and your wife and a favorable tax bracket.
Married filing separatly is a less favorable tax bracket and you are only going to be able to claim yourself as a deduction. You could be passing up a large refund.
“Less favourable” depends on the case. Depending on how much she made and how much tax she paid, the difference between “both of us together made $BNGYU” and “I made $GYUGH”+“who, me?” may favor the first option.
She has no SS# she’s not a citizen and does not work here - hence why she is not filing. We’re working with our lawyer to change her status to a permanent resident but whatever they give her (SS or temporary tax number) isn’t going to be here any time soon.
I’ll have to speak with the lawyer again I suppose. An extension might be the only way?
But why would the tax guy say that her info wasn’t needed? Is this really wrong? There’s many reasons why a spouse might not have an SS#, how do other people handle this?
It sounds like she should get an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. The IRS says that this takes 4 - 6 weeks. She will have to submit a tax return with her application, though.
See, this is all key information that you left out. Your question really has nothing to do with MFS filing status and everything to do with residency issues. I can point you to Pub 519, but I won’t even try to venture a guess on what you can or should do because an Internet forum is a lousy way to communicate this.
There are just too many options and issues involved. For starters, we might need to know worldwide income, dates of residency, dates of travel, country of origin, type of visa, tax treaties, etc.
In any event, a normal MFS filing does require the spouse’s name and SSN. In community property states, it also requires a worksheet showing allocation of income, deductions, credits and tax withholding.