Question

Electronic or Paper filing - Forms and Federal statements and worksheets

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
October 10, 2021
1 reply
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Hello!

I use TurboTax for my taxes but since my mom is a foreign national and a US green card holder with only foreign income (pension, annuities and interest), the Turbo Tax guided workflows did not help her for 2019 taxes. So for 2019, she used a CPA to file her US taxes electronically. Since she didn't like his services, she decided to have me file her 2020 taxes myself. She had requested an extension for 2020 taxes so I am planning on filing by Oct 15th 2021.

I looked at the packet the CPA sent her for 2019 taxes. It includes the following info:

Forms filed: FEDERAL - Form 1040-SR, Schedule 1, Schedule 3, Schedule B, Form 1116, Form 4868, Form 8879, Form 114 Form, 114a | VA STATE - Form 760CG, Form 760IP, VA-8879
Federal Statements
Federal Worksheets

I do not know if there's a way to do an electronic filing because I cannot use any of the guided questionnaire to answer questions about her 100% foreign income so my thought was to do a paper filing. Unless, there's a free site that allows you to plug in the numbers into the forms and submit electronically. BTW, she does qualify for free IRS filing based on her income.

My question is:

If I am doing a paper filing, do I just mail ONLY the Federal and State forms to IRS and VA State, or do I need to mail the Federal Statements and Worksheets - I have no idea where to find these Federal Statements and Worksheets but I am able to do calculations based on what the CPA did last year.
If I only need to file ONLY the Federal and State forms to IRS and VA State, is there any free IRS-partnered easy-to-use electronic filing site that will allow me to plug in the numbers in whichever forms I choose (no questions asked), and then allow me to submit all those forms electronically?

Thanks,

JS

Not A Product Question

Carl11_2

Employee

TurboTax does not support or include the 1040-SR. However, if the tax filer is a U.S. Citizen or legal resident alien with a green card and a social security number, there's really no reason they can't use the standard form 1040. The tax return should also be able to be e-filed too.

Some key points since she only has foreign income:

- You "MUST" start the W-2 section of the program and a few screens in select the option for "I don't have any W-2's". Then *FINISH* working through the W-2 section. If you do not do this, then the program will *INSIST* you enter W-2 information before you will be able to e-file.

- All foreign income from all sources is entered under the Personal Income tab in the Less Common Income >> Foreign Earned Income & Exclusion section.

- All foreign taxes paid is entered under the Deductions & Credits tab in the Estimates & Other Taxes Paid >> Foreign Taxes section.

J

jschoomerAuthor

Thanks, Carl, for the detailed reply.

I can explore that. But out of curiosity, if I had to go with paper filing, would I have to ONLY mail the Federal and State forms? When I see what's in the Federal Statements and Worksheets, there are calculations. And the Federal and State forms have a reference to the Federal Statements and Worksheets because it says see Statement 1, Statement 2, etc. etc.

Cheers,

Sid

Critter-3

In the print center you would only use the first option for mailing in the return ... that option has everything you need to mail into the feds & state including the mailing instructions if you indicate in the FILE tab you are mailing in the return.