Wife got her SSN, wanting to refile Taxes with 1040-x

[Jpotter1239]

We got married back in January of 2020, its been a long process but my wife officially got her SSN about two weeks ago. I've been filing single each year, so now that she has a SSN I was going to go back and refile 2020/2021/2022.

I'm going over the 1040-x form and other than noting how I'm filing at the very start I don't see anywhere else where I can say that's the only change I'm making. I tried searching online to see if there's a better way to refile the taxes but it's hard to find anything specific about this situation.

Has anyone else refiled from single to married filing jointly after the immigration process finishes? Just looking for any tips or advice, thanks!

[newacct]

First of all, you filed your taxes wrong. You were not allowed to file as "Single" filing status if you were married as of December 31 of the year; you should have filed as "Married Filing Separately".

Second, it's unlikely to be "the only change you're making", since changing the filing status changes the tax computation. Also keep in mind that if she had income from anywhere in the world, it will need to be reported.

[Jpotter1239]

First of all, you filed your taxes wrong. You were not allowed to file as "Single" filing status if you were married as of December 31 of the year; you should have filed as "Married Filing Separately".

One of the attorneys we had used at the time had told me to just file them that way and then submit a re-file later once she got her SSN as it would make it "much easier" apparently.

Second, it's unlikely to be "the only change you're making", since changing the filing status changes the tax computation. Also keep in mind that if she had income from anywhere in the world, it will need to be reported.

Thankfully she had no other income so that does make things more simple, but yes at this point it sounds like I might have to pay for one of those tax filing services to assist in this process of resubmitting my taxes unfortunately, just to make sure things are done properly.