I'm on a J1 visa (trainee) till October 2008. Right after that, I didn't get lucky to find a job. My husband registered me as his dependent on October onward. My question is what will be the best filing status for us? Is it Household Head, Married Filing Jointly, or Married filing separately? In addition to that, we just started a home business last November 2008 and we haven't have any income but a lot of business expenses.

What do you think will be the best for our situation and to avoid excessive amount of tax? Thank you

1. If your husband is resident or U.S. citizen, then he can only file as married filing jointly or married filing separately even if his spouse is nonresident. He is not Head of Household as you are not his Qualifying Child. Read Your U.S. Tax Return: Filing Status for Married (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/02/filing-status-for-married.html)

2. About self employed income, it is reported on schedule C or C-EZ (Form 1040). Read Your U.S. Tax Return: Tax Filing by Self Employed Sole Proprietor or Independent Contractor (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/04/tax-filing-by-self-employed-sole.html)

If your husband is a U.S. resident or citizen and you are a nonresident alien, he may be able to file as head of household. The following is from IRS publication 17:

You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

Filing jointly is probably your best course of action tax-wise.