Changing my marital status for 2020 tax filing

[HK89]

Hello,

In 2021, It seems that I made a mistake when I filed my 2020 taxes as single even though I was married to a non-US resident who was outside the US all of 2020. Can I fix that by amending my 2020 tax filing through TurboTax?

Thank you very much.

[pk · Accepted solution]

@HK89 assuming that in 2021 you were a US person   (  citizen/Green Card / Resident for Tax purposes :(

(a) whether you file a 1040 as  Married Filing separate or Single would not make much difference taxwise

(b) However, filing as single when you were actually married  -- assuming that you were married in a country whose marriage cert is recognized by the USA,  is perjury and you could be penalized.

Because of the above reasoning, I would strongly recommend that you file an amended return  to correct the error.

Is there more I can do for you ?

[pk]

@HK89 , your question about what filing status to use ----

1. you could file as Married Filing Separate ( MFS) ----- this will require  you to provide name  etc. of your spouse  ( whom was a Non-Resident Alien at the time ).  TurboTax will require a Tax id for the spouse -- just enter  a dummy SSN/ Taxid  such as 123-45-7000.  Then after the amended return is done, print it out and replace ( white out and write in ) the dummy SSN with  " NRA".  Then mail in the return.  This is simplest path

2.You could file  as Married Filing Joint ( MFJ),  --  provide her current details i.e. SSN, and a statement signed by both of you that she wishes to be treated as a resident for the year 2020 --  since you were married  by the 12/31  and therefore  married for the year.  This also means that any and all her income for the 2020 ( foreign or from US connected  sources ---world income ) comes under the purview of  the US taxes  --- both Fed and the State.  In such a case ,  she could be eligible for  exclusion of foreign earned income or Foreign tax credit ( limitations apply ) if she had paid  any income taxes to a foreign tax administration.  There may also be tax treaty assertion that may apply  ( thus  you should tell me the citizenship of each of you and  the country she was resident of for the year 2020 ).

Is there more I can help you with ?

pk

[HK89]

Thank you so much for your help, so I want to amend as Married Filing Separate ( MFS) but my wife has an SSN number now, can I use her true SSN instead of the dummy one? If I can use her true SSN, do I need to mention in a cover letter that she was not at the US in 2020 and she wasn't a US resident?

Thank you very much.

[pk]

@HK89 , yes of course , you can use her SSN and no explanation letter needed. That will allow you to e-file the amended return .

[HK89]

@pk I tried to e-file using TurboTax Online but I wasn't able to! At the end of the amending process, I was told to print the amendments (Fed and state) and mail them to the addresses provided on the direction pages. Any thoughts on that? Thank you so much, you're helping me a lot!

[VolvoGirl]

I'm pretty sure I read you can't efile an amended return to change the filing status.  

[VolvoGirl]

Oh is it for 2020?  Did Turbo Tax let you amend online?  Or did you have to use the Desktop program?   Either way you have to print and mail prior year amended returns in Turbo Tax.  You can only efile the current year except to change the filing status (I think).  

[HK89]

@VolvoGirl yes, it's for 2020. I used the online TurboTax service for filing my taxes for 2020. And yes I went through the whole online amendment process on my Tubotax online account, but in the end, I was told that I need to mail the amendments instead of e-filing!  

[VolvoGirl]

Yep, sorry you can not efile prior years on Turbo Tax.