[shankarnarasimha]

I am from India and moved to US in Dec 2005 with my wife and my child. I was not in USA during 2003 and 2004 as well ; I am on H1B, my wife on H4B and my Child is a US National - was born when we were in USA during 2002

Under dependents, (Line 7c), can I add my wife and Child's name (not clear about it because under the instructions for filling this line, it says it is applicable only for canada, mexico, japan and Korea);

Can someone help me out..

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Does your wife have an ITIN? If so, you can claim her and your child as dependents filing Form 1040NR.

You have not been in country long enough in 2005 to file under First Year Choice.

[shankarnarasimha]

Thanks Atlanta Tax Expert..
My Wife does have ITIN number. But what is confusing me is the instruction form 1040 NR - Page 9 :

"Line 7c- Dependents: Only US Nationals and residents of Canada, Mexico and Republic of Korea and Japan can claim exemptions for dependents"

In my case, I have checked "Other married nonresident alien" - i.e.. Filing Status # 5 - This doesn't allow me check against the column "Spouse" and so thought will add her name and my child's name under dependents table (7c). But the instruction - quote above is contradictory.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

You definitely will be able to file a non-resident return. I believe you can claim your wife as a dependent, if not your child.

However, with an exemption of $3,200 for yourself and a standard deduction of $5,000, you probably do not need to claim your wife or child to completely offset your 2005 salary.