Married Serviceman files as Single

[TaxLadyinPA]

The head Officer told all the young guys to line up and get their taxes done before they ship out. He tells this young man that he can file as single because he was unmarried 10 months and only married 2 months. (They got married in Nov)
The wife calls me and asks and I say you should file as MFJ. Are you sure that you husband filed single? Maybe he filed MFS.
She calls him at Ft. Drum, then calls me back and says: " While on the phone with my husband he goes in and tells the head Officer who filed him as single that a tax preparer said he should file MFJ or MFS." She tells me that she could hear his Officer screaming in the background saying *Who you going to listen to, ME or some stupid tax preparer???*
Case closed ..... he listens to his Officer. {The poor kid is probably peeling potatoes while you read this}
Now what is this young wife to do with her tax return??

[Jiggers]

Poor serviceman!

I would have the wife file an amended return, MFJ, and get the husband to sign it the next time that she sees him.

He will probably have a leave before April 15.

I can't suggest the MFS without knowing if they are in a community property state.

[les grans]

How I heard it forty years ago...

"Private, if the Army wanted you to have a wife, the Army would have issued you one."

[Bees Knees]

Maybe the poor kid has some leverage…

IRC Section 7212(a): “Whoever…by force or threats of force…obstructs or impedes the due administration of this title (the Internal Revenue Code and its rules), shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both…”

Tell the kid to tell his officer the tax preparer said she is obligated to uphold the law and won’t stand for some ignorant military officer intimidating enlisted men into breaking the laws because he is too stupid to understand the Internal Revenue Code.

Actually the code cited is intended to apply when someone threatens an IRS employee, but the officer isn’t going to have a code book handy, I don’t think.

[JohnH]

Issued wife

From my experience in the US Air Force 40 years ago, if they had issued me a wife she would have been:
1) The wrong size
2) Missing key parts
3) Ten times as expensive as one I could have found on the open market.

[ChEAr$]

What to do, what to DO?

The head Officer told all the young guys to line up and get their taxes done before they ship out. He tells this young man that he can file as single because he was unmarried 10 months and only married 2 months. (They got married in Nov)
The wife calls me and asks and I say you should file as MFJ. Are you sure that you husband filed single? Maybe he filed MFS.
She calls him at Ft. Drum, then calls me back and says: " While on the phone with my husband he goes in and tells the head Officer who filed him as single that a tax preparer said he should file MFJ or MFS." She tells me that she could hear his Officer screaming in the background saying *Who you going to listen to, ME or some stupid tax preparer???*
Case closed ..... he listens to his Officer. {The poor kid is probably peeling potatoes while you read this}
Now what is this young wife to do with her tax return??

Chances are that the wife has a Power of Attorney since he's shipped out, presumably
overseas, right? Well, Ft Drum, 10th Division, probably so.

Therefore provided the POA contains tax return authority, she may amend his return to file
jointly and therefore correctly.

[JG EA]

Along the same lines - a client told me she read on the internet that if she had a baby by April 30th she could count it for 2007.

[bertrans]

Similarly, had a TP, woman, who sincerely contended that she could claim a dependency exemption for her unborn child (7 months along) AND Head of Household Filing status, since she had, indubitably, provided ALL the support for the particular household in question.

[tpert]

Similarly, had a TP, woman, who sincerely contended that she could claim a dependency exemption for her unborn child (7 months along) AND Head of Household Filing status, since she had, indubitably, provided ALL the support for the particular household in question.

Was that TP by any chance an "Accrual Basis Taxpayer"

[bertrans]

Was that TP by any chance an "Accrual Basis Taxpayer"

..and that raises the whole issue of future depreciation.

[ChEAr$]

Was that TP by any chance an "Accrual Basis Taxpayer"

Ah well! good thought there.

In that case, she would have to pro rate the deduction, right? (grin

[Gary]

Another Client

And I had a client that wanted to claim her new baby but she had no income. She just didn't understand why she couldn't claim the baby.

[gkaiseril]

Maybe the poor kid has some leverage…

IRC Section 7212(a): “Whoever…by force or threats of force…obstructs or impedes the due administration of this title (the Internal Revenue Code and its rules), shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than 3 years, or both…”

Tell the kid to tell his officer the tax preparer said she is obligated to uphold the law and won’t stand for some ignorant military officer intimidating enlisted men into breaking the laws because he is too stupid to understand the Internal Revenue Code.

Actually the code cited is intended to apply when someone threatens an IRS employee, but the officer isn’t going to have a code book handy, I don’t think.

How familiar are you with the UCMJ?

When one is under an office like this, you do not confront him directly. He has a lot of authority to assign dangerous tasks and issue non-judicial punishments that include forfeiture of pay and reduction in rank as well as ask for a Courts Martial. The easiest one to pursue is the disobedience of a direct order if this solder is late for a formation.

The best advice is to have an amended return prepared, this may require the serviceman to complete a POA for the tax return, but his wife may already have a general one, and have the wife have the return amended and say nothing to the officer. The young man could also ask for an appointment with his unit' s JAG office and discuss this problem with the JAG officer.

In time his superiors will figure out this officer has a problem or one of the men under him will solve his problem when they come under fire.

[Bees Knees]

How familiar are you with the UCMJ?

When one is under an office like this, you do not confront him directly. He has a lot of authority to assign dangerous tasks and issue non-judicial punishments that include forfeiture of pay and reduction in rank as well as ask for a Courts Martial. The easiest one to pursue is the disobedience of a direct order if this solder is late for a formation.

I wasn't serious. That is what the smiley face is suppose to be used for...when it is suppose to be funny.

I guess it wasn't...