Advisable sequence to file? I need to amend 2021 tax return from "married /separate" to "married - joint"... and then file 2022 tax return as "married - joint". Should I file both the amended 2021 return and the new 2022 return at the same time?
Concerns: if I amend my 2021 tax return now in Apr 2023, it may take 20 weeks or more to process at the IRS. Which is OK, but if the IRS has issues with the 2021 calculations, etc that can change the totals and then the 2022 calculations/numbers may be off as as well. So then my 2022 tax return would need to be amended too.
Background: married in Nov 2020, wife lives overseas still, has no ITIN, SSN, no US presence, no US income. She does work for the US Department of State in the US Embassy as a foreigner in her country, but she gets paid as a local citizen and only local foreign country tax rules apply to her.
Last year we did not have all her 2021 salary paperwork available by the Apr 2022 tax deadline so filed married/separately and took a $2000 hit on the fed taxes and $1000 on the state. This time we think we have what we need to amend 2021 from separate to joint and file a correct joint 2022. (I know that this is an irrevocable decision to file jointly, but she makes much less then I do and separate vs joint is a huge difference)
She does not have a so called W-2 like we do. Her foreign country social security payments etc are collected from her paycheck(s), but she does not have a de facto tax return form, so we hope the IRS will still accept her annual pay breakdown and deductions form. But that is a separate question....
