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U.S. resident and military personnel had income tax deducted and sent to Puerto Rico
I am in the Navy serving in Japan. In 2007 the Navy deducted income tax the entire year for the American possession, Puerto Rico. I am a citizen of the United States. My birthplace was Puerto Rico, but I have lived in the United States for over fifteen years. I am married and have a six year old daughter. My wife and daughter lived apart from me for all of 2007. We were not legally separated or divorced. I maintained a Florida driver's license and my wife and daughter lived in Florida. My wife filed a 2007 tax return as head of household that year. I did not notice (dumb on my part for not looking at the details) that my pay stubs showed taxes being sent to Puerto Rico as I only looked at the total amount of tax deducted which looked correct. My United States federal tax amount was reduced by the amount sent to Puerto Rico. The combination of the two would have been the correct amount of my federal income tax withholding for that year. I have been unable to resolve this through my employer, the Navy, and have been trying to find a way to solve this problem and have been unable to find a solution. Thus I am late in filing my 2007 US Federal Income Tax Return. 2008 and 2009 has been filed. I do not know how this error occurred but am hoping someone can tell me how to get the taxes paid to Puerto Rico in error back because the IRS is showing I owe that amount to the US government. In the reading I have done I find I am not eligible to file a tax return in Puerto Rico because my wife and daughter lived in Florida and that made me a resident of the US for tax purposes. I really was a resident of Florida anyway and would rather not file a tax return in Puerto Rico. I am unable to claim a foreign tax credit on my US return to offset the US tax due because that credit applies to interest income only. I have hired a CPA, and he is clueless as to how to solve this issue. Is there anyone that can tell me how to resolve this issue. It would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Military Man in Japan
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