If your spouse is a nonresident alien, you cannot
use Form 1040EZ if he or she cannot file a U.S. tax return.
If your nonresident alien spouse has a social
security number or an Individual Tax Identification Number, that would
normally mean that they are a resident, otherwise they would normally not
have qualified for such an identification number. If your nonresident alien
spouse becomes a resident alien before he or she can file a tax return, then
you would be able to the requirements and be able to file Form 1040EZ.
Likewise, if your nonresident spouse is living with your in the United
States and files with you jointly, he or she would be able to qualify for an
Individual Identification Number with the Internal Revenue Service and
therefore be considered a resident alien instead of a nonresident alien.
If your spouse died at the end
of 2014 and you remarried at the end of 2014 to another spouse you would
still file married filing jointly but with a new spouse. If you are
remarried to a new spouse, your deceased spouse would have no choice but to
file married filing separately.
The nation's first sales taxes were on gold,
silverware, jewelry and watches due to the high cost of the War of 1812.
The information asked on your tax return is needed to carry out the
tax laws of the United States and to figure and collect the
right amount of tax. It is imperative that you supply the taxing
agencies with the most correct information requested on the tax forms and
worksheets.
Form 1040EZ, 1040A and Form
1040 ask you for information about yourself, your spouse if you are married,
and your dependents. In turn, the Internal Revenue Service uses the
information you supply to calculate the amount of tax you should have been
paying throughout the year and therefore the correct of amount of tax to
collect. The Internal Revenue Service also uses this information to
determine if you qualify for the credits and deductions you are claiming on
your tax return.
Let's take an example when you must use Form 8862
in preparing a tax return for your client. In 2014, your client was
age 24, single, and living at home with his parents. He worked and he was
not a student and earned $7,500. His parents cannot claim him as a
dependent. When he files his tax return, he cannot claim the Earned Income
Credit because he is not at least age 25.
Your tax preparation software
would most likely catch this mistake because your client is not at least age
25. However, let's say you not only did not fill out the Form 8862 diligence
worksheet, but you also did not fill out the correct age in you tax
software. As a result, you give your client the Earned Income Credit. This
is a tax preparation mistake an also a negligent disregard of the EIC due
diligence rules. When the Internal Revenue Service asks for the due
diligence requirement record, they will fine fine you $500 for that client
if you fail to provide it.
You can use Form 1040EZ if your
filing status is Single or Married Filing Jointly, your taxable income is
less than $100,000, and you are not a debtor in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case
filed after October 16, 2005.
There is a fantastic analogy in
a Tax Act blog "The
Difference Between Form 1040, 1040A and 1040EZ"
