Hi,

I am a citizen of India and had stayed in US (New Jersey) on an L1 B visa from 30th September 2007 to 12th July 2008. I have now returned back to india. I am maried but since my husband is a citizen of india, I filed my tax returns as single for the year 2007. However, my husband did travel to the US on an L2 visa but he stayed with me only for around 30 days between Nov 2007 - Dec 2007 and then he returned back to india. Did I do the right thing by filing as single?
Also I filled up form 1040 instead of 1040NR/1040NR-EZ for the year 2007. I believe I had to fill up form 1040NR/1040NR-EZ instead of form 1040 for 2007. Is this correct? If yes how do I rectify the error? Also for the year 2008, can I fill form 1040? If yes, can I use turbo tax/taxactonline for the same? Between the period of 1st jan 2008 to 12th July 2008, I travelled out of US for a period of 3 weeks. Please advise.

Abhi03:

Actually, you should have filed Form 1040NR as a MARRIED non-resident alien, and also filed Form 2106 to claim daily living expenses, because your stay in the U.S. did not exceed one year and qualifies as a temporary job assignment.

To correct the problem, you need to amend both 2007 and 2008 using Form 1040X and attaching the Forms 1040NR and 2106 to the Form 1040X. Print the word 'AMENDED' on the top of the first page of Form 1040NR.

This CANNOT be done on-line; it MUST be mailed.

If you need professional help, contact me at [email protected].