My wife and I married last year, and we wish to file married filing jointly this year. I'm a citizen and resident. She worked as an au pair, here on a J-1 visa, and is classified as a non-resident alien. As far as I understand, we can treat her as a resident for federal income tax purposes. However, we're having trouble figuring out exactly how to report her income. Since filed 1040-NR in the past, as she was filing as a nonresident. As she was an au pair, she does not have a W-2 or 1099 or any sort of form. The host family was not required to give her one.
How do we report her income? Do we put it in Miscellaneous Income as a household employee? When I try this, it gives me a warning not to report any number above $2700, which she made more than. Apparently, she's required to request a W2 from her "employer", presumably her host family. However, we weren't married yet when she was working as an au pair, so they had no reason to produce a W-2. Can I just put her wages (which are above $2700) in this box anyway?
Otherwise, do we put it in self employment? This is the second closest alternative, but she wasn't really self employed. She worked for a family; she just didn't get tax forms. Furthermore, when I input "au pair" into the self employment section, it suggests "nanny services". Is that accurate? Should I put "other", or can I put "nanny services", even though she wasn't really in the nanny business?
