B1 Visa:
Jan 5th to Feb 1st
Mar 1st to May 25th
Aug 25th to Sep 25th

H1B Visa:
Oct 19th to the end of 2010 (My kid will come here to live with me together Dec 2nd,2010, but my husband will still stay in my home country)

Payments before Nov 15th are from China by the China company. Payments after Nov. 15th are from USA by the USA company.

How can I fill my 2010 tax return? Now, I need to provide my Form W-4 to the employer. How should I fill it?

Thanks for your reading and I will be very appreciate if you can give me some help.

You have a choice:

1) You can file as a dual-status alien, filing Forms 1040 AND 1040NR and claiming your son as a dependent, but you CANNOT claim your husband as a dependent because he is NOT here in the U.S.. You will NOT be able to claim the $5,700 standard deduction, but rather you must itemize. The advantage is that you are taxed ONLY on your U.S.-sourced income. This return MUST be mailed, though you MAY be able to efile the state return.

OR

2) You can file jointly with your husband and you BOTH can choose to be treated residents for the entire year. You will have to claim ALL of your world-wide income if you file this way, but you can claim the Foreign Tax Credit to offset any double taxation, and you get to claim a double personal exemption ($7,400) plus a joint standard deduction of $11,600. You will also get to claim your child as a dependent PLUS claim the $1,000 Child Tax Crediit.

The only way to know which is best is to model the return BOTH ways and compare the results.

As for the W-4, you are restricted as to how many allowances you can claim because you are a foreign national. To have the LEAST amount of money withheld, claim MARRIED wth TWO allowances. To have the MOST amount of money withheld, claim SINGLE with ZERO allowances.

Your other choices are MARRIED with ONE or ZERO allowances and SINGLE with ONE allowance.

Thanks you very much for your swift reply.

If I choose to file as a dual-status alien, my U.S.-sourced income means ONLY the payment from Nov 15th (Paid in USA) to the end of the year, or should also inlude the payment paid by China company when I stayed in USA with the B1 visa?

I am not clear. Thanks.

You are resident from Jan 5, 2010. Any income earned during this period is to be reported on the U.S. tax return.

Thanks a lot.

You are so great. You know so many and can reply so quickly. The answers from you are very important to me.

Glad to help!