I started working at a company in the US with H1B since Oct, 2005. My wife has H4 and my son is a us citizen. In 2006, we all phisically stayed in the US for about 11 months.

Q1. I think my wife and I can be considered as resident aliens so we can use 'married and file jointly' category and put my son as dependent. Is that correct?

Q2. My wife has tax payers ID (ITIN?) and I'm not sure if we can use TurboTax and e-filing. Somebody said that I would need to do a paper submission.

It sounds like you are all residents in 2006 and using Turbo Tax should work fine. Yes, you can file MFJ.

TaxSearcher:

Same as earlier post: Does not the H-1B visaholder have to be in the U.S. at the end of the year to file jointly and be treated as a resident alein for the entire year?

Perhaps I misread the question but it seemed to me that they were still in the US?

I do not think so, unless the one month they were gone was as a vacation.

In 2006, we all phisically stayed in the US for about 11 months.
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That's how I read it! We all await the OP's clarification with bated breath!

Thank you for your kind answers!

To avoide your confusion,

Yes, we all are still in the us and we had a vacation in Korea during March so I said we were phisically in the US for 11 month.

I'm still working at the same company.

Actually, I have one more question. This year, I did not receive 1099-G Form, which indicates how much I received texable state tax returen last year. Last year I cliaimed $588 for the state return and I don't remember how much I received. I coul not track my transaction records because my paper statements did not have any transaction of $588. In this case, should I just put $588 in 1040 or just ignore it since I didn't get 1099-G? Or should I call IRS (does IRS issue 1099-G?)?

Thank you for your answers in advance!

Okay. File as resident aliens.

The iRS does not issued Form 1099-G; the states do.

You claim the Form 1099-G as income only if you itemized in 2005. If not, do not worry about it. If you DID itemize, contact the state.

You claim the Form 1099-G as income only if you itemized in 2005. If not, do not worry about it. If you DID itemize, contact the state.

I'm not sure if I understand this correctly. Could you plesae tell me what you mean by "itemize"?

From a certain year (when I was a student with F1 in 2004), I have received 1099-G every year. I just put the amount in the form 1040NR because I thought I had to, per instruction. In 1040NR last year, I also put the amount of money shown from 1099-G.

If this means 'itemize' I think I have to contact the State for this year's 1099-G.

Most non-resident aliens MUST itemize deductions, which means they deduct the state and local income taxes that were withheld from their pay, any charity donations they made, and any employee business expenses they may have incurred.

However, Indian students and business apprentices can claim a STANDARD deduction of $5,150 if that amount is higher than all of the itemized deductions noted above.

If you claimed the Standard deduction, then the Form 1099-G has NO meaning and you can ignore it.

However, if you itemized the state taxes you had withheld to reduce your federal income level, then a REFUND of some of those taxes must be considered income. Hence, if you itemized, you must claim the amount on Form 1099-G as income.

If you find this too confusing, contact me at the email address below and we will discuss it in more detail.