@Pack4236 , thank you for your answers to my questions. The situation as I see it :
1. You a US person ( Citizen), got married to a Non-Resident Alien on 09/15/2022.
2. The spouse arrived to the US on 08/22/22 on K-1, have been granted SSN and has applied for Green Card
3. Spouse has been in the USA since entry in August 2022 and has had no income from home country since Jul 2022 ( prior to leaving for the USA.
4. For simplicity, assume that this entry in August 2022 was the fist entry to the USA within the last three years ( 2020, 2021, 2022 )
Thus for 2022 tax year , if you file jointly ( Married Filing Joint ) for 2022, and she is treated as a Resident ( either because Green Card test or because wishes to be treated as a resident ), her foreign income ( i.e. the Philippines earnings prior to entering USA is not under the US tax purview). So there is no recognition/ reporting for US tax purposes and therefore no exclusion of foreign income. The reason for this :
(a) Whether you use the Green Card test ( issued / admitted) or request to be treated as a resident, you are resident for the year 2022.
(b) The start day of the year is the first day you are physically present in the USA -- thus the year start for your wife would be 08/22/2022 ( assuming of course that that was the first day in 2022 she was present in the USA for any reason ).
Also note that , if you are requesting for her to be treated as a resident for the year 2022 ( i.e. she has not been issued the Green Card ), your request ( signed by both you and her ) needs to stipulate :
(i) she has been in the country at least 31 days in 2022;
(ii) she has been in the USA at least 75% of the days using a test period of first entry and the end of the year i.e. 75% of the days between 08/22/2022 and 12/31/2022;
(iii) she was not a resident in 2021
and (iv) she does meet the Substantial Presence Test in 2023 --- you will of course need to file post meeting SPT.
Does all this make sense ?
Is there more I can do for you ?
pk
