sam172
Returning Member

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

> If your wife spent more than 183 days, she's a resident alien regardless

 

Yes, but the start date of residency matters when considering whether she was a resident alien for the full calendar year or not. She was actually granted a green card in the middle of 2024, so she met both the substantial presence test and the green card test. However, IRS mentions that

"If you meet both the substantial presence test and the green card test, your residency starting date is the earlier of the first day during the year you are present in the United States under the substantial presence test or as a lawful permanent resident."

In her case, this would the first date under the substantial presence test, which is late January, 2024 (in the first part of her stay in 2024, her status was "Exempt" from being counted for the substantial presence test). So she would have been a non-resident alien for the first part of January, and resident alien for the rest of the year (hence, dual-status alien). 

 

> even though the language doesn't mention Dual-Status citizens, it's irrelevant in the context of this form

My concern is not regarding the TurboTax input form itself -- it is regarding a statement prepared by TurboTax as an attachment to the return (visible in your screenshot). It explicitly mentions that she "was a nonresident alien as of the last day of the tax year ended 12/31/2024", which is factually incorrect in my spouse's case. This is a signed statement being provisioned to the IRS, hence my concern. 

 

In IRS Pub 519, the two cases of "Dual-Status Aliens" and "Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident" are separately mentioned, with advise on how to prepare the statement for each case. I believe TurboTax is making an error by lumping these together, and only following the instructions for the "Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident" case.

 

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