Jeeves McGloin
Sep 30, 2008, 01:37 PM
I am an American citizen working in Japan (since 2001). My wife is Japanese.
We have a couple-100K USD in CDs, money markets, mutual funds in the US, all of which are shared accounts.
We have been filing our tax returns jointly. I heard recently, though, that my non-US citizen wife would be tax-exempt on this money.
I have looked through previous questions on this site, but am still unsure on this issue.
(A) Is she tax-exempt?
(B) If so, must she assume sole-acount-holder status of any money by the end of the tax-year?
(C) Is there an annual limit on the amount of money she may receive?
(D) If we do transfer money solely to her to limit taxes, would there be any tax advantage between money markets or mutual funds?
(D) What are the applicable tax forms to report this?
(E) Must we change our tax-filing status to independent rather than joint?
Some potentially relevant points:
--My wife has a U.S. SSN
--My wife does not earn income currently in US or Japan
Apologies if a tired topic, but would greatly appreciate your advice.
We have a couple-100K USD in CDs, money markets, mutual funds in the US, all of which are shared accounts.
We have been filing our tax returns jointly. I heard recently, though, that my non-US citizen wife would be tax-exempt on this money.
I have looked through previous questions on this site, but am still unsure on this issue.
(A) Is she tax-exempt?
(B) If so, must she assume sole-acount-holder status of any money by the end of the tax-year?
(C) Is there an annual limit on the amount of money she may receive?
(D) If we do transfer money solely to her to limit taxes, would there be any tax advantage between money markets or mutual funds?
(D) What are the applicable tax forms to report this?
(E) Must we change our tax-filing status to independent rather than joint?
Some potentially relevant points:
--My wife has a U.S. SSN
--My wife does not earn income currently in US or Japan
Apologies if a tired topic, but would greatly appreciate your advice.