Hi,

I have been in USA on L1 for the following time period:

May 2006 to January 2007.
August 2007 till Date.

According to the substantial presence test, I completed my 183 days in US in November 2007.

So during 2007 I was a dual status alien. My non-working spuose and year old daughteris were also with me in US during the above time frame.

Can I file as "Married Filing Jointly" since on the last day of 2007 we were resident aliens?

If not and I have to file both as NRA and RA for the different periods, would my gross income be different for the periods? In other words, I was paid an annual income of 35K during 2007. Do I have to divide this into NRA and RA incomes for 2007? In that case, do I even fall into the tax brackets?

I am realy confused and would be very thankful if someone could provide pointers for my queries.

Thanks and Regards,
Anand.

Anand:

Yes, you can file jointly with your spouse and you BOTH choose to be treated as resident aliens for ALL of 2007. However, while to allows you to claim your child as a dependent, claim the $1,000 Child Tax Credit and qualify for a $10,700 standard deducton, it also requires you declare ALL 2007 world-wide income.

You can also file as a dual-status alien and pay taxes ONLY on U.S.-sourced income, but you lose the $1,000 Child Tax Credit and the standard deduction.

You may have to prepare the return BOTH ways to determine which way is best.