I'm working under H1B in Colorado in 2013, and I got married in April, 2013. My wife got her H4 status and moved to Colorado to stay with me since June 2013. My tax purpose residency was Tax Resident for Tax Year 2012. My questions are:

1. Can I and my wife file as "Married Filing Jointly") as Tax Resident (Using form 1040)?


2. It seems my wife needs to get an ITIN for tax return. She has NOT applied it yet. From the instruction: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw7.pdf,

*Remember: Since you will be filing your tax return as an attachment to your ITIN application, you should NOT mail your return to the address listed in the Form 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ instructions. Instead, send your return, Form W-7 and proof of identity documents to the address listed in the Form W-7 instructions at:
Internal Revenue Service
Austin Service Center
ITIN Operation
P.O. Box 149342
Austin, TX 78714-9342

It seems that they will also return our original (or certified copy) supporting documents (for W-7) to us:

Original documents you submit will be returned to you at the mailing address shown on your Form W-7. You do not need to provide a return envelope. Applicants are permitted to include a prepaid Express Mail or courier envelope for faster return delivery of their documents. The IRS will then return the documents in the envelope provided by the applicant. If your original documents are not returned within 60 days, you can call the IRS (see Telephone help above). If you will need your documents for any purpose within 60 days of submitting your ITIN application, you may wish to apply in person at an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center. See Where To Apply, later.

So when they return our supporting documents (for W-7), will they also return us with the ITIN? (So that I could use it in the future)


3. What should I put in the field of "Spouse SSN" on the Colorado Individual Income Tax Form 104 (http://www.colorado.gov/cms/forms/dor-tax/CY104.pdf)?
If I need to put the ITIN, I cannot file the Colorado Tax until I get reply from IRS Federal Tax Return, right?


4. Can I efile my 2013 Colorado Tax Return?
(I know that I cannot efile my 2013 Federal Tax Return, from: 4. Can I efile my 2013 Colorado Tax Return?
(I know that I cannot efile my 2013 Federal Tax Return, from: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw7.pdf))

Thanks. I appreciate.

1. Yes.

2. See below

3 & 4. Wait until you get your wife's ITIN, then you can efile the Colorado return. You have until 15 Oct 14 to efile the Colorado return.

It is probably most advantageous for you to file jointly with your wife, filing Form 1040 with Form 1116 to claim the Foreign Tax Credit. Form 1116 is required because you must claim ALL world-wide income earned in 2013, and the Form 1116 allows you to claim a credit for the income taxes paid to your home country.

You will need to apply for an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) for your wife by submitting Form W-7, and that process underwent some radical procedural changes in 2013. Instead of the simple notarization process, the IRS now requires that your home country certify the photocopy of your passport as a true copy. This is due to rampant fraud in the ITIN submission process. The notaries simply cannot tell the difference between a fake passport and the genuine passport.

FIRST ALTERNATIVE: This certification can be done by the home country embassy in Washington, D.C. or at one of the consulates across the country. Assuming you do NOT want to drive there, you need to call the nearest consulate and arrange to have this process done via the mail. This process, done via mail, can take up to three months to complete.

SECOND ALTERNATIVE: The IRS also have Tax Assistance Centers through which you may be able to have the passport verified as genuine, then submit the tax return and Form W-7 IN PERSON to be forwarded to the ITIN Processing Center in Austin, Texas for processing, without having to get the photocopies certified by your home country consulate.

You go to the TAC with your wife, her passport, the SIGNED Forms W-7, and the completed and SIGNED tax return.

The IRS official verifies the passports, asks a few questions, completes the certification paperwork, checks the Forms W-7 and tax return, then returns the passports with a receipt for the tax return and Forms W-7, which is sent to Austin, Texas for processing.

You leave the TAC with your wife and/or family, the passports and a receipt for the Forms W-7 and the tax return.

You would get the ITIN about six weeks after you left the TAC.

The tax returns are NOT processed at Austin, Texas, but rather forwarded to the regional IRS centers for processing, so the refund will come about one month AFTER you get the ITIN letters.

The list of the TACs are at the link below:

Taxpayer Assistance Center Locations Where In-Person Document Verification is Provided (http://www.irs.gov/uac/TAC-Locations-Where-In-Person-Document-Verification-is-Provided)

THIRD ALTERNATIVE. I am a Certifying Acceptance Agent, and I can certify the passport if the TACs are not close.

You would mail the passport and the SIGNED Form W-7 and SIGNED tax return to me. I would contact you via SKYPE, conduct a brief interview with your spouse, certify the passport, attach the certification to the SIGNED W-7 and sign both documents. I would also sign the tax return, then paperclip the W-7 with certification to the tax return, and then mail them to the IRS ITIN Processing Center in Austin, Texas.

The passport I would mail BACK to you via tracked PRIORITY MAIL, so the passport would be out of your possession for about a week.

The FINAL alternative is to mail in the actual passports themselves, something most of my clients are reluctant to do because...

If the IRS gets the passport, they hold it for about TWO months.

If you need my professional help, please email me at the email address in my profile.

Thanks for your reply.

I would prefer to go Denver TAC.

My documents for filing 2013 taxes won't be ready until Feb 15 (mainly because my stock brokers won't be able to send me the 1099s' to me until Feb 15). My Federal Tax Return needs to be attached to the ITIN W-7 form, so I am afraid that I will be late for the Colorado State Tax, if the due date is April 15.

From http://www.colorado.gov/cms/forms/dor-tax/CY104.pdf


Due Date
Form 104 and any tax payment owed are due April 15,
2014. Revenue Online will accept returns as timely filed
until midnight. Returns that are mailed must be postmarked
by April 15th. An automatic extension to file is granted until
October 15th, but there is no extension to pay. See 25 for
more information.

I think I will own Colorado State Tax for tax year 2013, because I made some money from the stock market. The "Due Date" section is so confusing. "Form 104 and any tax payment owed are due April 15, 2014.", and then "An automatic extension to file is granted until October 15th, but there is no extension to pay. See 25 for more information".

What is "See 25"? I could not find the so-called "See 25"?

My question is: even I own some state tax, and I need to file after April 15, 2014 (but before October 15, 2014), is it okay? Am I subject to any interest or penalties?

Thanks.

Calculate the return using a "placeholder SSN" for your wife, then submit an extension (Form 158-I) with a check for any tax owed.

That will prevent you from paying any interest or penalties.