Tax Situation

[GasBrommer]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

Hi,

I soon have to fill in my tax papers and I'm looking for some advice / info / anything I can read up on to make sure everything is filed correctly.
I came into the US in 2007, in January 2008 I started earning money through a J1 visa, in October 2008 I changed status and I received my EAD, which mean I could continue earning money, I paid taxes on all my income.

Now my wife, which I married in June 2008, has a job as an accountant but on top of that, started her own business as a beauty consultant, which means tax filing will be different. Can you please guide me as to what we'd have to fill in?

We both will receive our W2 forms, is the filing different now that we got married this year? Do we do it on one paper or is it separate + which forms do we have to fill in?

Thanks

[FlyingRon]

You file as a married couple if you got married during the tax year. Your only choice is filing jointly or seperately. Unless there is some unusual circumstance, there's never much reason to file separately.

Federally you use one of the 1040 forms. Florida doesn't have a state income tax for individuals, however there are other local taxes that may be due. You may or may not be subject to SSN/Medicare tax depending on your duration of stay here and who you are working for. In addition, depending on what your native country is, you may not get some exemption due to tax treaties between your country and ours.

Your best bet is to find a tax advisor familiar with foreign students and bring your W2, student loan payment records, etc... that you have to a tax advisor and let them assist. Some universities have staff that can assist with this as well.

[GasBrommer]

Ok, thanks. So we both have to fill in the 1040 form, right? My main question then is on how to fill my wife, since she started her own business as a beauty consultant, we've been keeping all our gas receipts, … how do we file all of this and where do we enter this?

Thanks for your help

[GasBrommer]

And I have 2 more questions:

- my wife had a name change on her SSC during this tax year, would that complicate things and how would we do this?
- is there a way to file tax credits for auto loan interest since my wife pays 30% interest on a car loan, is there a way to get tax credit for this?

Thanks

[LdiJ]

I would recommend, that for this year, you use a tax professional to prepare your joint tax return with your wife.

That will help you understand all of the ins and outs of filing a tax return when one of the parties is self employed.

If you feel comfortable with it after that, you can try to do your returns yourself. However, for this first year of your wife being self-employed, it will help you out to use a tax professional.

[GasBrommer]

The only thing I'm worried about is the costs, she just started her business with a small investment of 3000 dollars and up until now only 1000 dollars earning. How much would it cost to have a professional prepare it (estimate)?

[davew128]

Originally Posted by GasBrommer

The only thing I'm worried about is the costs, she just started her business with a small investment of 3000 dollars and up until now only 1000 dollars earning. How much would it cost to have a professional prepare it (estimate)?

I can't speak for FL, but in the northeast and southwest, a competent non-seasonal (what you want) preparer probably wouldn't do it for under $300.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by GasBrommer

The only thing I'm worried about is the costs, she just started her business with a small investment of 3000 dollars and up until now only 1000 dollars earning. How much would it cost to have a professional prepare it (estimate)?

Like the other poster said, we can't speak for all tax firms. However, my firm probably would do it for about 200.00, however we are also not located in FL. Look for a local firm that is open all year long, rather than one of the big national firms. Firms that are open all year long have the most experienced professionals and local firms, rather than national ones, tend to have a lower prices.

One of the reason why I am recommending this, is because just this week I did an amended return for someone who had self employment income, and who had done their original return themselves. There were so many errors that it was actually a bit difficult to correct them. Many of the errors were small ones, but they added up to a big mess.