Filing First Tax Return

[BearRaven]

Hi all,

We got married in July, and right before Christmas my wife got her green card. She arrived in to the US on a K1 visa, but she was in the US before as an exchange student (where she got a SSN).
At this time, my wife is not working, and we want to fill in a joint tax return. Do you know if there are any precautions or rules I need to take into an account filing a joint return? Can we even consider filing a joint return? Before her arrival to the US, she worked in her country.


Thank you

[newacct]

Assuming she was not in the US the previous year, she would by default be dual-status for 2019 -- non-resident before she arrived in the US, and resident after. Dual-status can only file as Married Filing Separately. In that case, she would be subject to US taxes on her worldwide income on the part of the year she was resident, and only subject to US taxes on her US-source income on the part of the year she was nonresident.

Or, since you guys are married and you are resident, you guys can elect to treat her as a resident alien for the whole year, and you guys must file as Married Filing Jointly. Making her resident the whole year would make her subject to US taxes on her worldwide income the whole year, though she may be able to exclude up to $100k of foreign earned income in the months before she came to the US, by using the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, if she was outside the US for 330 days in the 12-month period before she came.