Hi

I have a question regarding filing taxes. I am working on H1B visa in US for 1 year and 3 months (visa was active since Oct '11, and I was on F1 visa based OPT before that). I guess I will be resident alien for 2012 year.

I may be asking things in advance, but I just need to be prepared. I am getting married in November this year and will be coming with my wife in late December. Now my questions are
1. Can I file jointly with her and claim her as dependent?
2. Do I need to apply for ITIN for her first, or leave it blank in the tax return and fill the W7 form?
3. Are there any necessary steps to be taken (like application of ITIN etc) before the end of this year to ensure that I can claim her as dependent? (I am assuming answer to Q1 is Yes :) )
4. WIll turbotax or other tax softwares allow me to leave my wife's ITIN blank? (probably a silly question)

Thanks,
Sagar

1. Yes you can file jointly. Your wife would be a non-resident alien, but if you are a residnet alien, you an make the choice to treat her as a resident alien as well. You need to add a statement to your return making this choice and both sign it. A spouse is never a dependent. You file jointly and get two personal exemptions.
2. You will apply for the ITIN together with your return on form W7. The instructions for form W7 have the address where to send your return with the ITIN application. You would write in the box for the SSN "applied for, see attached W7" or similar
3. You will need a certified copy of your wife's passport, just a notarized copy is not enough anymore. Your government will provide the certification (an Apostille in countries of the Hague for example).
4. You could use Turbotax (or other software) to prepare your return, but you won't be able to efile. You will get an error message that you should enter a valid SSN, but you can ignore that, print your return and send by regular mail.

Thanks for your quick reply.
I have another question for you.

What will need to be done if she starts working on H1B (or F1 visa as student worker) regarding ITIN? She will probably need an SSN then, right?

Yes, if she switches to H!B, she will be eligible for an SSN.
Once she becomes eligible for the SSN, you need to use that instead of the ITIN.