Tax season? Ugh...

I knew getting married was going to complicate the tax forms this year, but shesh, I had no idea. It's not really that getting married complicated it so much, it's getting married to someone who is employed overseas and doesn't receive a W-2.

First of all, I'd like to say thanks to Intuit for making a great product called TurboTax. It has been surprisingly helpful in our situation. While our situation is by no means unique -- there are over 6.5 million Americans who live and work overseas -- if you asked Macy's, Dockers, Meijer or any other company who won't sell to foreign IP addresses, you'd never know it. Even the State of Virginia (OF ALL STATES!!) really doesn't handle non-military residents very well.  TurboTax has been refreshingly helpful in all regards.

That said, I've done plenty of homework looking to see if I have to report Meg's income. Yes, apparently I do. :( Looks like the risk of being audited may rise too, so I better be honest. Turns out if you are a U.S. citizen, made money overseas (to include interest from foreign bank accounts) and spent more than 35 days in the U.S. (TOTAL), then you have a federal tax liability. So between the wedding in 2008 (that was 30+ days right there), and home leave in 2009, we'll be stuck filing for both years.

However, life gets complicated if we actually wind up at a "nice" place in the future. "Nice" meaning less R&Rs or it's on our tab entirely to go back to the States. The distance between Windsor, Canada and Detroit, Michigan may be less than 1 km, but according to the IRS, it's a world apart. According to the IRS, foreign salaries can be tax exempt (to a limit) as long as you're overseas for 330 days in a year. Overseas for 329 days? Too bad. So counting days (and documenting days too in the event of an audit) may be another fun reality in the future.

Boy, that's EXACTLY what I wanted to be doing on a Saturday. :)