Hi, this is my situation in brief:
1) I have been on H1B for 3 years
2) Got married in Oct 2008 with my wife who is an international student (F1)
3) I just applied for her H4 but didn't get an answer yet nor I expect one anytime soon
4) At this very moment she is still F1
Do I need to file taxes jointly and have her fill a W7 for ITIN? Or should we wait for next year?
What are the steps I need to go through?
Thanks in advance,
FG

Choice 1: You file as married filing separately and your spouse files nonresident return and Form 8843.

Choice 2: You can file resident tax return as Married Filing Jointly.
You will get standard deduction of $10,900 and exemptions for both of you

You will complete forms W7 (application for ITIN) for your spouse and attach with your tax return.
Read about F1/H1-B tax filing: Your U.S. Tax Return: The U.S. Visas

Although you don't "need" to file jointly, you may owe less tax if you file jointly.

So you are saying that no matter how many days we have been legally married in 2008 we can always file jointly? There is no minimum number of days? And the deductions are the same?

One further question is: I have been paying for her tuition for the past two years ($15-20k a year). Is there any way for me to get some money back for that? The two semester payments happened both BEFORE we got married (one in Jan '08 and one in Sep '08). I am assuming that I cannot claim anything because of this.

Thank you so much for your thorough answers. They are really helpful!

Marriage status is determined as of the last day of the year. Since you were married on that day, you are considered married for the year.

If you elect to file as a resident for the year, you may be able to claim some education benefits.

Yes, you can file jointly.
If you have 1098-T, then you can claim tuition and fee adjustment deduction.

Thanks... not sure what 1098-T is but I am guessing something the school needs to provide or I can ask from them?
If I do choose to claim tution and fee adjustments deductions though, I guess that I would be forfeiting the standard $10,900 deductions and I would have to itemize everything, right?
I have been filing as resident for the past 3 years (since I switched from F1 to H1B in 2005, after living in the Us for 5 years as student myself). I am guessing I'll try the regular way, which is resident, jointly with standard deductions.

Last question for you guys (thanks again by the way, you are so clear in your answer that I wish you could do my taxes for me!): since I need to send the W7 for federal to get the ITIN for my wife, can I still use TurboTax and instead of filing electronically print everything and send manually?
Am I right to understand that I need to wait for the ITIN to file the NY state taxes? How long does it usually take to get the ITIN back? Am I running out of time?

Thanks so much!

Adjustment deduction means you can take deduction even without itemizing.

For professional help, contact AtlantaTaxExpert at [email protected].

You can file your federal with the W-7 requesting an ITIN and if you don't receive the ITIN by April 15th, you can extend NY until you get the ITIN.

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