I came to US on May 2011 on L1B, my spouse on July 2011 L1B. I am moving back to India on December. I want to file tax as MFJ - married file jointly. In this case, my spouse has no ITIN. If I apply ITIN now, I guess it would take more than a month to get. Can you please advice me how to file tax jointly? Also suggest me to have the home country address while submitting the W7 for my spouse.

If you leave PRIOR to 31 December 2011, you CANNOT file jointly with your wife because you do not meet the criteria for the Joint Filing option of First Year Choice.

You CAN file a dual-status return, and you will submit Form W-7 to get your wife's ITIN at that time. You CANNOT submit the W-7 early without the tax return.

Now, before you return to India, make FOUR photocopies of your wife's passport and visa and get each copy notarized at your local bank. This is much easier than getting BOTH a notarization and an apostille in India.

Thank you for the information. Small correction in my previous email. My wife has L2 and not L1B. Please let me know if your answer is applicable for this situation too. Also please let me know why we need 4 copies of passport notarized. I understand that we need to attach one copy with W7 when I file tax return. Also I have a 2 1/2 old son and I think I need to fill W7 for my son during the tax filing.

Thanks in advance, it's much appreciated.

Youer wife's L-2 visa makes no difference as to how you must file.

You WILL need a W-7 for your son as well; make FOUR notarized photocopies of his passport and visa as well.

The reason for four copies is to have extras in case you have to re-submit, which is MUCH more likely when you file from a foreign country.

Thanks for the inputs. It's really helpful. I have the following questions:

1) The IRS website I read somewhere that if a person is eligible to fine SSN then they are not qualified to get ITIN. Is that true? My wife is L2 and she is eligible to get SSN; in this case please let me know if I can still make use of ITIN for my wife
2) There are two inputs for address. One is address and other one is Foreign address. I will be filing the tax from my home country, please let me know if I need to mention my home country address on that fields.
3) The Passport front page, Visa page and the I94 form has been notarized by the local back. Please let me know if this is sufficient for the W7 form. What are the other documents that I need to attach as part of submitting W7
4) For filling the W7 form for my son, is that sufficient the parents to fill and sign behalf of the child.

1) Yes, that is true. If she CAN get a SSN, she SHOULD get a SSN, and, what's better, she can get it NOW, and NOT wait until you file the tax return in January 2012.

2) Enter ONLY your home country address ONE time.

3) That is sufficient.

4) Yes, you (as the sponsor) will sign for your son.

Thanks a lot for quick response.
I thought of getting SSN for my wife but I am moving to india in couple of weeks. My wife would be getting the SSN only after we vacate my house. That's why I am planning to go for a ITIN.

Okay, then applying for the ITIN is the better option in your case.

Be SURE to get the passport and visa page photocopies notarized BEFORE you leave.

Thank you very much. I will go by your suggestion. Your advice is much appriciated. Excellent support

Glad to help!