1040 Head of Household

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rdneu56
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 9:04 pm

1040 Head of Household

Post by rdneu56 »

I saw in IRS Pub 54 that someone with an alien spouse and an unmarried child that lives with him can file as head of a household, if he is paying for more than 50% of the cost of that household. For the purpose of the US tax return that someone is considered unmarried. Now let’s say the alien spouse is a Canadian citizen. Can that someone claim the alien spouse and the unmarried child as a dependant or just the unmarried child? Pub 54 only says that the alien spouse cannot qualify someone as a head of a household.
nelsona
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Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2004 2:33 pm
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Post by nelsona »

I guess you could, but you'd have to expalin to me what advantsge you would gain by this.

Your wife, if she had US income, would still have to report it on her own 1040 MFS, or 1040NR, which has unfavourable taxrates compared to piggy-backing on your MFJ.

And as I've often said, being overly creative on your 1040, when you have to report in Canada anyways, is usually not worth the bother, since whatever you save on 1040 is usually gladly taken by CRA.


<i>nelsona non grata... and non pro</i>
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