I came to the US on February 8th, 2009 with the validity on my I-94 till August 7th 2009. I filed for change of status to L1 on July 22nd, 2009 and the apporval was received on October 22nd, 2009. In the interim period between February 8th-October 22nd 2009 I strictly abided by the law and refrained from taking any employment. I had gotten alongwith me around $10000 cash from India and my credit cards that kept me afloat. From Oct 22nd I have been working for the US subsidiary of my Indian co. and drawing Paycheck. Between January 25th 2010-March 10th 2010 I was in India to line up orders for my US co and also to get my Visa stamped. Also during this period (Jan 2010) I got divorced to my wife who was here with me since my arrival and had changed her status to L2 and remarried again in India and brought along my new wife on L2. Now, I need help to compute my taxes, should I file dual-status, Non-resident alien or Resident Alien? When should I file it-I mean do I qualify for SPT? My US income started to kick in only around 22nd Oct 2009. Also, for 20 days of January 2010 my status was Divorcée. My ex-wife has since moved to Canada to pursue her career. How can I get a I-TIN on her behalf and file as married for that period? I am sure nobody's had complications as twisted as mine... but, then this is an SOS.

You CANNOT get an ITIN for your new wife, because you were NOT married to her on 31 December 2009.

Strangely enough, you CAN get an ITIN for your ex-wife and file jointly with her. However, I doubt that would be practical given the circumstances.

This being the case, you will file dual-status. Because you would have to get your ex-wive an ITIN to claim her as a dependent, and due to the inherent difficulty of such a process (submission of a Form W-7 which SHE must sign), you probably will NOT claim her as a dependent.

BOTTOM LINE: The easiest way for you to file is dual-status with NO dependents. Unfortunately, that also results in a rather high level of taxation, because you CANNOT claim any standard deduction.

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