Hi,

I am on H1B and my wife is on F1 status. Although she gets small scholarship money ( with taxes ) from school, but to a large extent she is a dependent. Can I file jointly with her and will that be beneficial ?

Thanks,
S

If you are resident (for tax purpose), you can file resident tax return as Married Filing Jointly. Then, you wife will no longer be exempt from FICA taxes even if she has F1 visa.

Other choice for you is to file Married Filing Separately, and you can't claim your wife as dependent if she had any income including taxable scholarship.

Agreed.