Hello

I am on H1 visa status. My wife came to US in 2007. So this year I filled tax as "married filling jointly". I entered my wife's SSN in the form. Is it allowable not to have/enter ITIN but use SSN? I still have not received tax return. I have contacted IRS but no answer yet. Your help is appreciated.

Thanks

Everyone paying taxes should have either an SSN or an ITIN - but not both. Keep in mind that an ITIN is assigned only to tose tax payers who do not have an SSN. You are required to enter both your and your wife's SSN/ITIN when filing as Married Filing Jointly. So yes, in your case it's perfectly allowable - in fact, madatory - to enter your wife's SSN.

You must always use SSN, and should not use ITIN.
About your tax return, you did not tell when did you file, do you have a refund or not, or did you attach tax due payment with return? If there is no refund, you will not hear from IRS unless it finds some changes.

Thank you both on your inputs. To answer MukatA's question,
I did file the tax return in April08, recently I received tax refund based on "single" status, whereas I filled as Married filing jointly. I have sent letter to IRS about the same in mid May. Still waiting for their response.

1. If you filed nonresident tax return, then you can't file joint return.
2. If you filed joint return as residents, then you must complete Substantial Presence Test (SPT) before filing the return. Read Your U.S. Tax Return: Substantial Presence Test (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/04/substantial-presence-test.html)

Since you did not provide enough information about your tax return, it is hard to say why this happened and what you should do now.