Recommendations for CPA Firms Specializing in US-Foreign National Spouse Tax Filing

I work with international clients facing similar situations all the time. The confusion you're experiencing is completely normal - international tax filing with a foreign spouse is definitely more complex than single filing. First, regarding MFJ vs MFS - you generally have the option to treat a nonresident alien spouse as a US resident for tax purposes, which allows you to file jointly (MFJ). This election often results in lower overall tax liability, but it means your spouse's worldwide income becomes subject to US taxation. Without this election, you'd need to file MFS, which typically has less favorable tax rates and limitations on certain deductions and credits. Since your spouse has never been to the US and is waiting for visa approval, they're clearly a nonresident alien for tax purposes right now. Their foreign income is generally not taxable in the US unless you make that election to file jointly. If they have US-source income, that's a different story. For resources, I suggest looking into firms like H&R Block Expat Services, Greenback Expat Tax Services, or Bright!Tax who specialize in exactly these situations. Local CPAs often have limited experience with international tax issues.

After dealing with similar international filing issues for years, I stumbled upon taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which has been a game-changer for my situation. My husband is from Brazil and I'm American, so we faced many of the same questions you're having. The site helped analyze all our documents from both countries and actually explained the tax treaty implications in language I could understand. It highlighted deductions we were missing and showed us how the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion applied in our case. Before finding this tool, we were overpaying by nearly $3,200 because our previous accountant didn't understand how to properly apply tax treaties. What really helped was being able to upload our foreign tax documents and get them interpreted correctly – something our local CPA struggled with.

I've gotta share my experience with taxr.ai after trying it based on the recommendation here. Initially, I was just looking for general advice, but I decided to upload our documents including information about my wife's German rental property. The analysis caught that we needed to file Form 8858 for my wife's foreign rental property and showed us how to properly claim foreign tax credits for the taxes she already paid in Germany. It also flagged that we were approaching FATCA reporting thresholds. What surprised me most was discovering we could exclude almost $120,000 of my wife's income through the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, which our previous accountant had completely missed. The tool explained exactly which forms we needed and even highlighted a potential audit risk in how we'd been handling currency conversion for her income. Worth every penny for the peace of mind alone!

After struggling with international tax issues similar to yours (my wife is Japanese), I found that calling the IRS directly was basically impossible. I'd wait on hold for 2+ hours only to get disconnected or speak to someone who gave contradictory information each time. I finally tried Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) after seeing it mentioned here, and they actually got me connected to an IRS agent in under 15 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with walked me through the specific forms needed for our situation and confirmed that we had been incorrectly filing for the past two years. They even helped me understand how to handle my wife's Japanese pension contributions, which was something three different CPAs had given me conflicting advice about.

I need to eat some humble pie here. After posting that skeptical comment about Claimyr, I decided to test it myself since I needed to ask about amending my return with my Filipino spouse's information. I expected it to be a waste of money, but I got connected to an IRS agent in about 17 minutes. The agent actually specialized in international tax issues and walked me through the 8621 form requirements for my wife's foreign mutual funds. She also confirmed we should be making the election to treat my wife as a resident alien for tax purposes despite her still being physically outside the US. Most importantly, the agent flagged that we needed to file FBAR forms for my wife's accounts which I had no idea about - apparently there are huge penalties for missing those. Now we're getting everything fixed before any notices come. Genuinely shocked this service worked as advertised.

Have you considered using a tax software that specializes in expat taxes? I've been using TaxAct Premium for filing with my Canadian spouse. It walks you through all the foreign spouse questions step by step and costs way less than a CPA. The key forms you'll need to know about are: - Form 8840 (Closer Connection Exception Statement) - Form 8833 (Treaty-Based Return Position) - Form 1116 (Foreign Tax Credit) - FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR for foreign accounts) The software prompts you for all of these and explains when they're needed. Just make sure you read each section carefully.

Don't forget about FBAR requirements! My wife is Brazilian and we got hit with a $10,000 penalty for failing to report her foreign bank accounts that had over $10,000 combined. The threshold is surprisingly low. Also, make sure you understand FATCA requirements (Form 8938) which is separate from FBAR but has similar purposes. The thresholds are different though - for married filing jointly living in the US, you need to report if the total value of foreign assets is more than $100,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $150,000 at any time during the year.