Question

Stimulus checks eligibility as filing tax return as married-separately to my foreign spouse.

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
March 30, 2021
1 reply
0 views

I'm a U.S. citizen, I live with my foreign wife overseas.

My question, I understand that my wife is not eligible to receive any stimulus check as she does not have an SSN, am I eligible to receive the stimulus payments? taking into consideration that we have filed our 2019 taxes as married-jointly, also, would it help if we are going to file our 2020 taxes as a married-separately?

Please note that I have received the first stimulus check already as it was based on my 2018 taxes when I was not married then. Therefore, I'm not sure if I'm eligible to receive the second the third payments.

TurboTax Basic Windows

N

NCPERSON1

all that matters is how you file for 2020.

the stimulus is technically an advance of 2020 payments. What that means is the IRS used 2019 (or 2018) to ESTIMATE what you were due in 2020.

But what is on your 2020 tax return (income, dependents, marital status) is what you are ACTUALLY due

if the ACTUAL is greater than the ESTIMATE, the difference is credited to you on Line 30 of form 1040 and will increase your refund or reduce what you owe.

if the ESTIMATE is greater than the ACTUAL, you are not required to give it back and Line 30 will be zero, in fact Line 30 can never be negative.

sounds like you received $1200 and you are due $1800. Line 30 should show $600.

it's that simple.

ps the fact that your spouse does not have an SSN doesn't impact your ability to receive stimulus so suggest not making a decision to file joint or separate on that basis; it won't matter.

M

Mahmoud SabbaghAuthor

That sounds good to me. However, when I tried to file as married-jointly, in TurboTax, line 30 showed $2,400, did that count my wife's stimulus, even though she is not eligible?

N

NCPERSON1

did you enter the ACTUAL stimulus payments you received in the 'federal review section" of TT yet? You need to enter each of the first two separately and accurately for Line 30 to be correct

What are you using when TT asks for your wife's social security number?