[viewer]

Can 1099-MISC filed by H4 visa status?
If anyone knows please reply.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Viewer:

There are two aspects to consider your question: The aspect of immigration law, and the aspect of tax law.

I am NOT an immigration attorney, so the following is my opinion. You need to either see an immigration attorney, or post your question at the LAW forum under Immigration Law.

Someone who is in the country under an H-4 visa is normally NOT PERMITTED to work either as a W-2 employee or as a Form 1099 independent contractor unless the Form 1099 was for work done OUTSIDE of the U.S. If you DID work as an independent contractor while in the U.S. you violated the provisions of your visa. How serious the violation is I cannot say.

That said, I will now address the tax law issues concerning your Form 1099-MISC.

If the amount on the Form 1099 is in the non-employee compensation box of the Form 1099 (Box #4) AND the amount exceeds $600, then the IRS expects to get a tax return from you using a name and SSN/ITIN that matches the one on the Form 1099. If you do NOT file the tax return, the IRS, after about a two-year period, will send you a computer-generated notice in the mail (using the address on the Form 1099) asking you why you have not filed a tax return to properly report and pay taxes on the income shown on the Form 1099-MISC.

In other words, while you may have a problem with the INS or Homeland Security about violating the provisions of your visa, you will only COMPOUND the problems if you do not file a tax return to account for the money earned under this Form 1099.

The IRS typically does NOT go out of its way to share the contents of tax returns with the INS or Homeland Security. The IRS will provide the returns if requested, but they will NOT send the return on its own initiative.