I am on H1B visa status throughout 2007 and work in Texas.
My wife was on F-1 visa until Dec 2006 and then got her OPT valid from Dec 2006 to Dec 2007. She got a job starting April 2007 in Connecticut. She worked on OPT from Apr 2007 to Oct 2007. In Oct 2007 she got her H1B visa.
We are planning to file 'Married file Jointly' when filing for taxes.
We also bought a house in Nov 2006 so will be going for itemized deductions.
My gross income is almost twice that of my wife.
What forms do I fill and what approach do I use to get the best refund.

I tried filing for the taxes using 1040 form, but when I included my wife's income along with mine, it calculated the taxes considering my wife's income from Apr to Oct 2007 (OPT period) as normal income (Fed+Medicare+FICA as would be the case during H1). But in actuality her paycheck deductions during Apr to Oct 2007 period were only for Federal tax as would be the case if you are working during OPT period.

Please help.

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Originally Posted by balsekar

I am on H1B visa status throughout 2007 and work in Texas.
My wife was on F-1 visa until Dec 2006 and then got her OPT valid from Dec 2006 to Dec 2007. She got a job starting April 2007 in Connecticut. She worked on OPT from Apr 2007 to Oct 2007. In Oct 2007 she got her H1B visa.
We are planning to file 'Married file Jointly' when filing for taxes.
We also bought a house in Nov 2006 so will be going for itemized deductions.
My gross income is almost twice that of my wife.
What forms do I fill and what approach do I use to get the best refund.

I tried filing for the taxes using 1040 form, but when I included my wife's income along with mine, it calculated the taxes considering my wife's income from Apr to Oct 2007 (OPT period) as normal income (Fed+Medicare+FICA as would be the case during H1). But in actuality her paycheck deductions during Apr to Oct 2007 period were only for Federal tax as would be the case if you are working during OPT period.

Please help.

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I am kind of in the same boat. My wife worked last year with some income, but her employer deducted Social security and medicare, though she was on F1 (bascially changed from H4 to F1 in 2006). When I called the employer, they sent me W-4 form and asked to fill it out and send her change of status approval notice to get back the social security and medicare deduction for the previous year and stop the deduction for the current year. They also said that we should file her return as Non Resident Alien. But the question is we have not left the country for 2 years now, so does my wife qualify as a Non Resident Alien on the basis that she has F1 visa. The other question is we want to file a joint return in which case can we file only 1040 joint and still claim back the deducted social security and medicare?
Thanks for the response.
I appreciate your help folks.
CAN