1040-NR - dual Status / filing jointly I have a question regarding my 2011 taxes (personal). I have lived in the states for 10 years, working under a TN1 visa. We lived in PA for the last 7 years and decided to move back to Canada so we could get our kids into school and settle down. I had an international accounting firm in Vancouver complete my taxes since I knew it would be over my head this time round. To break down 2011 for you, we sold our house in April 2011 at a loss of around 50k. We moved into a townhouse (temp) in PA until Sept 2011 and then moved to Vancouver, BC. Job situation. I worked for my US employer in the office until Sept 2011 and then remotely (from Vancouver) until the end of November 2011. I started working for my Canadian employer in late Sept 2011 also. My tax preparer filed a 1040 Married filing jointly and claiming my children (2) as dependents with the tax year dates of 01/01 to 09/02. Then they attached a 1040NR as a statement with the dates of 09/03 to 12/31. We filed and then a couple months later the IRS sent me 2 letters. One stating "IF you are filing as a dual-status taxpayer please submit a signed copy of form 1040". The 2nd letter stated "Please submit form W-2, form 1042-S, form 8805, form 8288-A, or other U.S. withholding document to support the amount of withholding reported on line 62, form 1040".
I took these letters to my tax preparers and they reviewed and came back to me saying they think the IRS is saying I cannot claim dependents or, in this case file jointly as a dual-status tax payer and therefore should submit a 1040x to update my status as Universal income? I basically removes about $2500 from my refund and It just doesn't make too much sense to me as I've already paid taxes on the income I made while living/working in Canada. I realize that I left the country, but it was 9 months into the year.
Can someone please confirm/deny the correct process for someone in my situation. I did call the IRS tax law department but they were not able to help, and could only refer me to publication 519. Please advise. |