Hello

My wife came to USA on H4 visa and started her college in boston. We were suppose to get Tax ID for her because she is not eligible to get SSN.

She went to India this year (Jan 2009) and get her Visa changed to F1 (student visa). Now she is eligible to get SSN and I need to file Tax jointly. For her. Should we apply for TID now and file TAX using the TID or just apply for SSN and file Taxes using SSN.

The point is she was on H4 earlier and I want to take the advantage being her on dependent on me.

Thanks in Advance.

You can file joint return as residents. Get her SSN and then apply. Read about H1-B tax filing: Your U.S. Tax Return: The U.S. Visas (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/08/us-visas.html)

Thanks MukatA for answering.

I don't know whether I made is clear in the first attempt or not. Last year (Jan 08 to Dec 08) my wife was on H4 and was not having SSN as she was on dependent visa. We didn't applied her Tax ID at that time. This month Jan09 she has got her F1 Visa and can also get SSN. My Question is whether we should be applying for TID and SSN both and file the 2008 taxes on TID as she was on H4 visa in 2008 ?

When I will be filing the taxes jointly she will be

Panks:

WAIT until she gets her SSN, THEN file your 2008 tax return jointly.

If you apply for the ITIN while the SSN is being approved, the ITIN application will be rejected and you would have to re-submit the tax return with her SSN in any event.