American married to a Swiss in CH but no US. File as single or married?

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hello,

I tried to search the forum for a related post, but didn't find what I'm looking for.

A little background:

I'm American and my husband is Swiss. We were married in Switzerland and plan to live here permanently. He doesn't have a greencard for the US nor a bank account there. We never married in the US and I've kept my maiden name on the marriage docs in Switzerland.

For tax purposes:

When I file my US taxes, do I file as single or married?

Will my husband need to file and US taxes? From other threads it seems that if he doesn't have a greencard, then he doesn't need to file US taxes. Is that correct?

For now I am not making more than $90,000, but our combined income will be above that amount.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thank you,

Kathlyn

2
My CPA recommended that we file "Married Filing Separately". The only catch to this is that your spouse will have to get a tax id.

Your income will be under the foreign income exclusion so you will

not owe taxes.

FBAR is something you also have to be aware. If you have the equivalent

of 10K USD in your bank account or balance hit that amount during the year, you are required to file the FBAR form.

Additionally, I would try to keep your accounts separate. It makes

things easier.

3
Thank you for the advice.

So I would need to file an FBAR if the account is in his name and my name is linked to it?

Last week two of the banks in our village said they won't open an account for an American (even if I'm married to a Swiss).. but they would allow my husband to open the account and give me Power of Attorney or Vollmacht. But if having a joint account will cause tax problems, I will look into opening an account at PostFinance.

What exactly is the benefit of filing as Married filing Separately rather than Single?

4
also write your congressman and senators and let them know what a pain in the tuchus FATCA is for you as an American.

5

So I would need to file an FBAR if the account is in his name and my name is linked to it? Yes. If you are a signatory on the account

you have to file the form if the balance exceeds 10K USD at

any point during the year.

Post Finance still allows Americans to open accounts here.

You could file as Single, but you are technically married.

Have you filed a "married" return in the past?

The tax rates for MFS and Single are the same, but there

are limits on some deductions with MFS which probably

won't affect you.

Here is the link to an American CPA if you want. I have

met her, but I didn't use her for preparing my tax return.

http://www.americanincometax.com/custom3.php

6
I wrote my two Senators and received a form letter back. The

answer had nothing to do with my question. I was pretty disgusted

with an answer that didn't address the concerns.

7
We were just married 10 days ago. Up until now, I've always filed as "single".

Guess I'd better get over to PostFinance before my first paychecks start to hit "our" account!

I'll keep the CPA's email on hand, though I was hoping to do next year's taxes myself. In all other aspects our finances are straight forward, having few deductions or large assets/expenses.

The information regarding FBAR has been very helpful and came at the right time as our joint account is still below the threshold.

8
For future reference, filing of form 8938 (US citizen who has foreign assets):

http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/article...248113,00.html

Form TDF-90.21 (these are similar forms, but just go to two separate US agencies with different due dates......why the duplication, I have no idea):

http://twoplacescalledhome.wordpress...1-due-30-june/

With regards to tax matters using EF as a source............what I have found that each of us seem to have just a little twist in our situations, which one is American, is the income equally spread, or does one spouse have most of the income, etc. So might be wise to have a good Tax accountant on either side, unless of course you get some satisfaction in keeping up with the regs, then it's time well spent.

9
I wouldn't use a CPA since your tax situation is not so complicated.

Remember the filing deadline for expats is June 15, but I always

file an extension until October 15.

I use Turbo Tax or one of the other software packages.

Remember though, the FBAR form is due in June assuming

your bank account would hit 10K USD.. I may be

wrong, but I do not think you can extend this. Additionally,

there are stiff penalties for not filing this form.

10
Hi.

I am American married to a European. For us, it made more sense to file jointly, as I am the primary earner. I use a very good accountant in NYC, if you are looking for one. PM me if so.

Take care,

LA

11
You can be considered single for the purposes of tax filing, even if you are married.

There's a checklist on page 13 of the 1040 instructions booklet under Line 4 Head of Household:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf

Here is what applies to you:

"You are considered unmarried for this purpose (filing status) if any of the following applies....You are married to a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat him or her as a resident alien."

So, as long as your husband doesn't become a resident of the United States, you can file as single. In your case (and in mine) it makes life easier to file as single. It's not that complicated, and you won't need an accountant.

However, the FBAR filing requirement is for ALL accounts your name appears on, even joint accounts. These include your renter's account, any bank accounts (personal and savings) as well as any retirement funds that either you or your employer have contributed to, even if you can't withdraw money from them!

12
You actually need to file if you have $10,000 in foreign assets. They don't need to be in the same account.

From the IRS ( http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...148849,00.html )

"The aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year to be reported."

Even worse, this includes accounts that you don't actually control, like renter's accounts, since you are defined as having "a financial interest" in the account (you get interest, you get statements once a year on the account). However, you can differentiate these accounts on the form (TD F9022.1), for example saying "account opened by landlord, no signature authority" on a renter's account.

(As an American who has lived here for 6 years, gotten married to a Swiss man and had two kids, I know way too much about the US tax code. Yuck).

13
Hey swiss_in_traning,

This is my first year filing in Switzerland. I'm American, my husband is Swiss. Just curious if you're still filing as single and if that worked for you. I see this part: You are married to a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you don’t choose to treat him or her as a resident alien.

But then it doesn't seem to apply to me because I don't pass Test 1 or Test 2. This tax thing is confusing and I'd really like to do it myself but being married is making it so much more difficult. :-)

14
Huh. I've always files as married filing separately. The link s_i_t posted is still valid and takes you to 2017 instructions.

The filing status stuff starts on page 14 now. It looks like single is no longer an option, but the text mentioned above appears in Head of Household now.

However right under that it also says you can only check the box if test 1 or test 2 applies, and those tests deal with a dependent living with you.

It seems if you're married to a NRA but don't have children, then neither single nor head of household would apply and you'd have to do married filing separately?

15
I think I have done both over the years - married filing separately and last year as head of household which I think I will do again this year. But I used to not have any income so it didn't matter much (in my opinion!) even now my income is much lower than the earned income exclusion...so...I don't worry about it to much besides filing? Maybe laissez-faire but there you have it...

16
Head of household.

Tom

17
I filed as head of household and claimed my children as dependents. Without children, you can file as married filing separately. Since we got married when I was already knocked up, we always had dependents.

Wow, glad I don't need to worry about that anymore! Downside: I now live in Texas.