關於一方在中國TAX.

About married resident alien (for tax purpose) with spouse in China.

There have been discussions here about that back a week or two ago. I called IRS and got their authoritative answer. Share this info with you :)

Case specifics:
1. One spouse must be able to elect to be a resident alien filing 1040 (A).
2. The other spouse is in China.

For the best interest of the couple, file this way:

1. File joint return, make the choice of “Treat non-resident spouse as resident alien”.
2. You must report the income of the spouse in China on 1040 line 7.
3. You can claim $3050 exemption for the spouse.
4. You can take a standard deduction of $9500 since you file a joint return.
5. The spouse can exclude foreign earned income up to $80,000. This would take out anything you put in line 7 in above 2, since most people in China do not make $80,000.
6. The spouse needs ITIN. File W-7. Even the spouse has never been in US, he/she can apply for ITIN by *** Filing W-7 together with the joint return ***. The spouse cannot file W-7 by itself – meaning: not attaching it to 1040.

Net effects: compared with filing separately or as single (without taking the spouse into account), your taxable income is reduced by $3050 + $4750. This could mean thousands of tax dollars depending on your tax bracket.

What you cannot do:

Neither of you cannot claim any tax treaty benefits.

所有跟帖： 

• stp 請看看 -H-1B_tax- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 16:57:56

• 今年這個壇子對UNCLE SAM的貢獻大大的! -Windlight- ♀ (0 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 17:39:26

• 我知道這些規定, 但是第6條你很難做到, 因為 -stp- ♀ (210 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 20:58:16

• Not True!!! -sdfadfa- ♀ (83 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 21:16:20

• 我是舉個最省事的例子, 因為用護照不需要附加 -stp- ♀ (1026 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 21:34:16

• 回複：我知道這些規定, 但是第6條你很難做到, 因為 -H-1B_TAX- ♀ (675 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 21:22:38

• 我不是說了沒有TREATY的可以試試, IRS的回複隻供參考 -stp- ♀ (150 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 21:46:33

• What's more: the tax rate -sdfadfa- ♀ (15 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 21:23:51

• right -H-1B_TAX- ♀ (63 bytes) () 04/06/2004 postreply 21:27:22