non resident filing jointly and FBAR

[john09]

hello,
a friend of mine who is a us citizen got married to a Non-US citizen this year but she hasn't moved into the US yet 'still waiting for green card by next year'...he is filing as joint with her as it benefits him, and using also form 2555 'Foreign Earned Income' for her....
my question does she need to do the FBAR-FATCA stuff? since: 1-she has no green card yet 2-spent only few days in US in 2018 3-has worldwide income 4- she is not resident for immigration purposes but she is technically asking IRS to treat her as resident for TAX purposes by filing jointly 5- has an SSN as she worked in the US a long time ago

[nelsona]

if she files jointly, she has to do FATCA (but the thresholds are higher when joint).

FBAR is not required for non-citizen, non-GC non-residents. Once she moves to US or gets GC, then she must FBAR.

[john09]

Thanks Nelsona for your reply,

how does the IRS see her foreign income in terms of Obamacare? for example: if i make 30K i get some credit from Obamacare that reduces my monthly premium, but if i add her foreign income '45K', will i have to pay back those subsidies back?

[ND]

If outside the USA for 12 mos, can file obamacare exemption form (Code C) and be exempt from health care tax; if using tax software, once you input that info, it will zero out the tax.

[john09]

Hi ND,
she is out if the US but i am not, so i am wondering if IRS/Obamacare will consider her excluded foreign income as part of mine and therefore bump my income out of the premium tax credit threshold