DaveF1006
Expert Alumni

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

It depends. I am following the guidelines from the opening paragraph from this IRS source. The paragraph states "If, at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is a U.S. citizen or a U.S. resident within the meaning of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) section 7701(b)(1)(A) and the other is not, you can choose to treat the nonresident spouse as a U.S. resident for tax purposes. This includes situations in which one of you was not a U.S. resident at the beginning of the tax year but was at the end of the year, and the other was not a U.S. resident at the end of the year".

 

You were not a resident alien at the end of the year because you hadn't satisfied the terms of the Substantial Presence Test but you will become one for tax purposes in 2024. In fact, if you select the link above for US resident, it mentions "you are a resident  of the United States for tax purposes if you meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for the calendar year (January 1 – December 31)".

 

The problem is, it doesn't specifically state that you can file jointly if using the first year election option. When there is no clear guidance, I can only advise you to file separately in the first year only.

 

 

 

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