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bkrnj · Nov 21, 2010, 11:46 PM

Hi I got married in the Philippines a few years ago and when I filed my taxes I was told I had to file as married , no problem , then I found out that for the first time I owed the IRS . When I inquired about this , I was told that when you get married , it puts you in a higher tax bracket , I was under impression that when you get married , your taxes go down . Now, My wife does not live here, she has never been here and she will never come here , I don't want her here . I will be moving to PH for good soon , I just read that even though I will be living in PH , I will still have to pay income taxes to the IRS , I plan on having a small business , why do I have to pay more taxes when my wife does not benefit from anything from here and why do I have to pay income taxes to the IRS when I will not be living here and will never be returning . Then I was told I have to get a tax ID number for my wife , I do not want her to be forced into this system . When I leave here I will cut all ties to this country .

MukatA · Nov 22, 2010, 05:31 AM

You can file as married filing jointly or married filing separately.
On the joint return your standard deduction is $11,400 and you get two exemptions. If you file as married filing separately, you will not get many credits and deductions including EIC.
It appears that you are filing as married filing separately.
You should file joint return or you can file as head of household if you have a qualifying dependent. Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing Status for Married

AtlantaTaxExpert · Nov 22, 2010, 04:19 PM

If you want the benefit of filing jointly, then you MUST get her an ITIN. Do not worry about "forcing her into the system", because the ITIN is temporary in nature and will be used only until you depart the U.S. and, presumably, renounce your resident status or U.S. citizenship.

Also, look LONG and HARD at renouncing your citizenship. You can live in the Philippines, earn a living, and file your annual tax return without paying U.S. income taxes by using the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. It will keep your options open to return to the U.S. at future date.