This! My brother and I got audited because my mom filed her own taxes claiming herself while my brother also claimed her. What a nightmare that was to sort out.

Wait, so even income my wife earned in her home country BEFORE getting her green card would count? We'd have to pay US taxes on that too? That seems unfair since she wasn't even a resident then!

Yes, that's exactly right. When you make the 6013(h) election, you're choosing to be treated as US residents for the ENTIRE tax year. This means all worldwide income from January 1st onward is subject to US tax reporting requirements, even income earned before your wife physically became a resident. It can seem unfair, but the trade-off is that you get to file jointly, which often saves significantly on taxes overall. You may also be eligible for the Foreign Tax Credit if she paid taxes on that income in her home country, which can offset any US tax owed on the foreign income.

TurboTax can handle it but not super smoothly. You'll need to manually attach the election statement. I used TurboTax last year for this exact scenario and had to write up the statement separately. The premium version did walk me through the dual-status alien questions though!

That's an interesting approach I hadn't considered! Do you know if there would be any additional tax implications I should be aware of with this method? And would I still be able to claim the standard mileage rate for the personal use of my vehicle on other schedules?

If you go the lease route, you'd be treating the vehicle as rental property on your Schedule E, so you'd need to track and deduct actual expenses rather than using the standard mileage rate. You'd report the lease income from the partnership, then deduct expenses like depreciation, insurance, maintenance, and fuel based on business percentage use. For the portion of your vehicle used personally, you wouldn't be able to claim any deduction since that's considered personal use. The standard mileage rate wouldn't apply once you've chosen to treat the vehicle as rental property. This approach works best for newer, more expensive vehicles where actual expenses exceed what the standard mileage rate would provide.

That approach won't work anymore. Employee business expenses were eliminated as deductions for most people with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Unless you're in certain specific professions (like armed forces reservists, qualified performing artists, etc.), you can't deduct unreimbursed employee business expenses on your personal return.

So you're saying I shouldn't worry yet? When should I start to panic if I don't see movement? It's already been 3 weeks since I filed and the tracker still just says it's being processed with that PATH Act message.

You definitely shouldn't worry yet! The PATH Act hold means nothing will happen until after February 15th at the earliest. Even then, it can take another 5-7 business days for your return to finish processing and the refund to be approved. I'd say don't start getting concerned until around March 15th. If you haven't seen any movement by then, you might want to contact the IRS to see if there's an additional issue. But right now you're still well within the normal timeframe, especially considering this year's processing volumes. The "being processed" message with the PATH Act reference is exactly what you should be seeing at this point.

Unfortunately, amended returns with EIC are subject to even longer delays. They not only get caught by the PATH Act hold, but amended returns typically take 16-20 weeks to process regardless. And that's during normal times - with current IRS backlogs, some people are waiting 6+ months for amended return processing.

That's a good point. They're planning to retire in about 8-10 years, and I think their retirement income will put them around the 22-24% bracket based on their pension and expected 401k/IRA withdrawals. So it sounds like pre-tax contributions still make sense now, especially in 2023 if they're in the 24% bracket. But doesn't that still leave the question of whether to do the SEP for 2023 vs. prioritizing backdoor Roth going forward? The SEP would block backdoor Roth unless we convert it (paying taxes again).

If their retirement tax bracket is expected to be 22-24%, then yes, pre-tax contributions make sense now, especially while they're still in the 24% bracket. For your specific question about 2023 SEP vs. future backdoor Roth, I'd recommend a hybrid approach. Have your dad make a SEP contribution for 2023, but perhaps not the full $12,889. He could contribute just enough to keep him from spilling into a higher bracket. This gives some tax savings now while limiting the amount that would affect future backdoor Roth conversions. Then for 2024 and beyond, focus on maxing out his employer 401k (including any after-tax contributions for mega backdoor Roth) before considering backdoor Roth IRA strategies. The 401k contributions would give him the pre-tax benefit without the pro-rata complications of the SEP.

This is a really good point about being near the bracket edge. Moving from 24% to 32% is an 8% jump which is huge. If a $12,889 SEP contribution could keep them in the lower bracket for 2024, that would save significantly more than just the direct tax benefit on the contribution itself.

That's actually a fantastic point I hadn't considered! They're definitely near the edge of the bracket - I think my mom estimated they'll be about $15-20k over the 24% threshold for 2024 without any additional deductions. So a $12,889 SEP contribution for 2023 wouldn't directly affect 2024 taxes, but it would free up cash they could use for other deductions or opportunities in 2024. I'll definitely bring this up with them - maybe they could increase 401k contributions enough in 2024 to stay in the 24% bracket if they preserve more cash now with the SEP contribution for 2023. Thanks for this perspective!