US meets UK

I’ve been absent here mostly because I’ve been absent in life. I went to Faaaabulous Las Vegas! But returned to what (I thought) were allergies aka Spring time. So I spent a week half celebrating Spring, half cursing it. Then I thought, ah! I’m finally getting better; only to discover I was actually getting worse. I woke this Monday and my symptoms (according to my dr) presented. By presented I can only assume she means my body lost its ever-loving mind.

So, I am hoped up on meds, lots of fluid and sleep and of course the usual cure – mac n cheese and cadbury eggs. I only wish Nick were home, mostly because I’m selfish and that would make me feel better. He would even make my mac n’ cheese for me, no matter how much he hates cheese. However, he’ll be home tomorrow! Which makes me OH SO VERY HAPPY! If I knew how to code a larger font (without Nick’s help) I would – because I am that excited about it.

He has been gone for a month and as much as I try and play it cool. I’ve missed him terribly. I genuinely function differently without him, and I’m not a fan. We both thought it would be like “the old days” of our long distance relationship… you know what will be fun? Skype! It’ll be like the old days, that was fun right? wrong. Once you’re married and you get to see your spouse all the time, being away is somehow 3487539847 times harder.

What do you do when your spouse is away?

I spoke with our accountant today, and thankfully Nick won’t have to pay double taxes. Since he will remain a citizen of Her Majesty, and not the US he will file his taxes in the UK.

Thankfully, the US and the UK have laws of reciprocity. Essentially meaning that we don’t have to be taxed twice, though there are several countries where that isn’t the case. Nick will remain in the pension system for the UK, and pay UK taxes – which makes sense considering all his income is British. Whereas I will pay US taxes as usual. He *could* choose to pay US taxes instead of UK, but that appears to make the process 369857698456 more complicated. If he has a US job, with US employers it could make more sense for him to file in the US. Since he doesn’t, we’ll be filing with two countries this year. Or rather, we’ll only be taxed once in each country.

I also worried that we would not count as a married couple this year for tax purposes. I thought this was a bit bogus since the US wouldn’t allow Nick to work here, AND they wanted to shirk my marital tax benefit? Jerks. When you fill out a W-4 it notes that if you are married to a non-resident alien you should file as single. My accountant says not to worry, if you’re married – you’re married. whippee! Our marriage is recognized! Which I can at least say is true of my LGBT friends in DC.. sadly not too many other places. le sigh.

Lesson of the day? Sometimes it’s a good idea to trust an expert and not *gasp* Google.

ps. Have you seen the crazy pants-ness all up on my friend’s formspring? http://www.formspring.me/jennacole Some of the less rabid anti immigration posts have been answered. I don’t know how these people don’t understand that being a lawful permanent resident is within tax law – and isn’t evading anything. I would laugh my butt off if some troll threatened me with an audit because they were so xenophobic. Not to mention, unless they’re a Native American I’m pretty sure they come from a line of immigrants. Paaaaathetic.