Hi - I just found out that it is possible to file as "head of household" if your spouse is a NRA, and you pay more than half the living expenses, and you have a qualifying person such as a child.
I'm a USC in Canada, my spouse is NRA, and our son is a non-USC.
My question: can I file head of household, list my son as the qualifying person, but then not include an ITIN number for him? I don't want to go through the painful ITIN application.
My motivation for doing this is to increase the passive category FTC carry forward (due to lower tax rates, and higher standard deduction) as I expect my TFSA will get bigger soon. I have other passive cat. income this year for which I can claim FTC.
File as head of household with NRA spouse
Moderator: Mark T Serbinski CA CPA
I do not belive that he would need an ITITN, but of course could not be then claimed as a dependant for exemtion purposes.
Seems to me that you would want to get the exemption for you and your spouse and your child, which would outweigh head of household filing. remember that souse ca still be climed as exemption if she has no us income.
Seems to me that you would want to get the exemption for you and your spouse and your child, which would outweigh head of household filing. remember that souse ca still be climed as exemption if she has no us income.
After 20 years, I am severely cutting back on responses. Do not ask specifically for my help. There are a few others on this board that can answer most questions. All the best
Thanks for your reply. I'm really on the fence on this one. Every year I file MFS - and have more than enough foreign tax credits to bring on a zero balance. I'm trying to work out if it is worth the ITIN application headache to get more foreign tax credit carry forwards.
I didn't realize that it is the spouse's US-only income that matters for exemption purposes - that's a useful bit of knowledge. Thanks again for your contributions to this forum!
MGeorge.
I didn't realize that it is the spouse's US-only income that matters for exemption purposes - that's a useful bit of knowledge. Thanks again for your contributions to this forum!
MGeorge.
HOH
You can elect HOH, which requires unmarried, and your NRA spouse can be considered unmarried to you for this purpose. Ah, that raises an interesting question. the ruile you quote "and you pay more than half the living expenses" - since we are now ignoring the NRA spouse as if unmarried to you - which means YOU are the only breadwinner - can we just look at whether you pay more than half of YOUR living expenses to qualify you as HOH and the answer will always be yes and any USC 1040 filer married to NRA with qualified kids can always qualify for HOH!? So, if NRA spoude is wealthy husband who earns $1M a year and USC wife earns 40k a year with two kids and qualifies for additional child tax credit for them, she gets a 2k refund every year in spite of husband's millions and in spite of their not being bale to do so if they were both USCs. Seem random? I actually personally know a coupld filing just like that. Are they offside or correct?
Remember, it is the child's means of support that is the issue. If the CHILD does not supoort themselves (ie provide for more than half of his own support) then he can be claimed.
So, unless the CHILD is the one earning all the money, either parent can claim the qualifying child for HoH purposes.
So, unless the CHILD is the one earning all the money, either parent can claim the qualifying child for HoH purposes.
After 20 years, I am severely cutting back on responses. Do not ask specifically for my help. There are a few others on this board that can answer most questions. All the best