Changing Filing Status

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
September 22, 2020
1 reply
5 views

Hi Everyone,

I came to USA for job in 2017 but family did not accompany me till Jan 2019. So, for the year of 2018, I filed my taxes as Single. I applied for ITIN for my family in March 2020 while filing taxes of 2019.

One of my friends is suggesting that I can change the filing status of my 2018 tax return from Single to Married filing jointly for the year 2018 and get the refund from IRS. My question is based on my scenario as described above, it is legal to change the filing status from Single to Married filing jointly for the year 2018.

Critter-3

Level 15

If you were legally married in 2018 then filing as SINGLE was illegal so you MUST amend the return to file either as married filing jointly or separately. I highly recommend you seek local professional assistance to get this corrected properly and get help with the ITIN application.

vikasguptaAuthor

Level 2

Thanks for your response.

I was married but my wife was in India and never came to USA. We are Indian citizens. My wife was not in USA and never came to USA before that and and the tax consultant I used also advised me to file as Single. But, it seems as per your suggestion, I need to file and amendment. As I mentioned, I applied for ITIN for my wife in 2020 and she has an ITIN now. I am will try to find some local professional advice here.

DoninGA

Level 15

@vikasgupta wrote:

Thanks for your response.

I was married but my wife was in India and never came to USA. We are Indian citizens. My wife was not in USA and never came to USA before that and and the tax consultant I used also advised me to file as Single. But, it seems as per your suggestion, I need to file and amendment. As I mentioned, I applied for ITIN for my wife in 2020 and she has an ITIN now. I am will try to find some local professional advice here.

You will need to amend your prior year tax return to Married Filing Separately.

See this TurboTax support FAQ for amending a tax return originally completed and filed using TurboTax - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/amending/help/how-to-amend-change-or-correct-a-return-you-already-filed/01/25588

If you are a US citizen or US resident and your spouse does not have a Social Security number or an ITIN and you are not applying for an ITIN with the tax return then you can only file your tax return as Married Filing Separately. Where asked to enter the spouse's Social Security number enter 999-88-9999. When you print the tax return erase the Social Security number for your spouse and manually enter NRA for non-resident alien.

You will have to print and mail the federal amended tax return, it cannot be e-filed.