suggestion

For your first question, you might as well check the website of property appraiser, there should be a form to use appeal for your question.

For your second question, the following is about whether your parents can pass dependent test:

Substantial Presence Test

You will be considered a U.S. resident for tax purposes if you meet the substantial presence test for the calendar year. To meet this test, you must be physically present in the United States on at least:

31 days during the current year, and
183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before that, counting:
All the days you were present in the current year, and
1/3 of the days you were present in the first year before the current year, and
1/6 of the days you were present in the second year before the current year.
Example:

You were physically present in the United States on 120 days in each of the years 2005, 2006, and 2007. To determine if you meet the substantial presence test for 2007, count the full 120 days of presence in 2007, 40 days in 2006 (1/3 of 120), and 20 days in 2005 (1/6 of 120). Since the total for the 3-year period is 180 days, you are not considered a resident under the substantial presence test for 2007.

so I think your friend is right. However you need file w-7 for your parent Tax ID.

Hope it helps.

所有跟帖： 

• 回複：suggestion -wei68- ♀ (522 bytes) () 01/13/2008 postreply 07:27:15

• suggestion-2 -LifeKey- ♀ (824 bytes) () 01/13/2008 postreply 08:06:54

• 回複：suggestion-2 -wei68- ♀ (45 bytes) () 01/13/2008 postreply 13:07:25