I am a us citizen living and working in the us and got married in 2008 outside the us and has a child outside the us with this person, they have now been granted immigrant visa in 2009 but have not yet received ss# and I about to file my taxes, Can I file jointly and claim them so I can maximised benefits.

You can file jointly with your wife and you both CHOSE to be treated as resident aliens. This will allow you to claim the $11,400 joint standard deduction plus two $3,650 personal exemption (for yourself and your wife).

If the child spent at least some time in the U.S. in 2009, the child can also be claimed as a dependent. However, if NO time was spent in the U.S. in 2009, you CANNOT claim the child.

You will need to submit Forms W-7 to apply for ITINs for your wife (and child, if the child was in the U.S for part of 2009). A notarized photocopy of their passports need to be stapled to the respective W-7.

The downside is that you must declare ALL 2009 world-wide income (any income she earned in her home country), but you can at least partially offset any double taxation by claiming a Foreign Tax Credit (Form 1116).

Even with the downside, this is probably the best way for you to file.

Note that, once you get her ITIN, you can amend your 2008 return to file jointly for 2008 as well. Same rules noted above apply for claiming the child on the amended return.

If you want professional help doing this, email me at [email protected].

If your child is a US citizen, you will get SSN. Then you can claim the child on the joint return.

What MukatA says about the child IS correct.

If he/she is a U.S. citizen, then you can claim him/her as a dependent on the return even if he/she was NEVER in the U.S. in 2009.