[Sara_m]

Hi,

My husband and I have come to the US 2 months ago. My husband has an H1-B visa and I have an H4. I don’t have a work permit or SSN.

My husband works at a university in New York City. His gross annual income is $40000. They are paying him $1110 bi-weekly. Also he pays approximately $300 every month for my health insurance. That finally makes his paycheck $960 bi-weekly.

His employer says he has to be filed as single. I would like to know if he can file himself as married. And how would this affect his income.

I really appreciate your help in this matter.

Thanks

[The Texas Tax Expert]

Hi,

My husband and I have come to the US 2 months ago. My husband has an H1-B visa and I have an H4. I don’t have a work permit or SSN.

My husband works at a university in New York City. His gross annual income is $40000. They are paying him $1110 bi-weekly. Also he pays approximately $300 every month for my health insurance. That finally makes his paycheck $960 bi-weekly.

His employer says he has to be filed as single. I would like to know if he can file himself as married. And how would this affect his income.

I really appreciate your help in this matter.

Thanks

The employer is wrong, but there's a likely explanation. He has to file as a married person but you cannot file together (if you are non-residents or dual-status aliens). It's complicated, but you will have a choice. You can be dual-status aliens (the standard result in your case). Or if you meet certain conditions you can elect to file a joint return and be residents for the full year. This would mean reporting any foreign income you earned prior to coming to the US on your US tax return but claiming a foreign tax credit.

I don't deal with clients in NY but ATE does and hopefully he will provide a comment -- you might want to consider using his professional services as this is complicated. Someone needs to look closely at it for you to determine the best outcome (probably the filing jointly full year election is best, but you should check).

Good luck with it.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

TTE:

Thanks for the endorsement.

Sara:

I believe that I have already answered your post, either on another forum or by email. I can definitely help you come tax season. Just email me at the email below.