See below on how to enter your 1042-S.
You can make an election to file a joint tax return
with your nonresident wife.
If, at the end of your tax year, you are married
and one spouse is a U.S. citizen or a resident
alien and the other spouse is a nonresident
alien, you can choose to treat the nonresident
spouse as a U.S. resident. This includes situations in which one spouse is a nonresident alien
at the beginning of the tax year, but a resident
alien at the end of the year, and the other
spouse is a nonresident alien at the end of the
year.
If you make this choice, you and your
spouse are treated for income tax purposes as
residents for your entire tax year. Neither you
nor your spouse can claim under any tax treaty
not to be a U.S. resident. You are both taxed on
worldwide income. You must file a joint income
tax return for the year you make the choice, but
you and your spouse can file joint or separate
returns in later years.
How To Make the Choice:
Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to
your joint return for the first tax year for which
the choice applies. It should contain the following information.
• A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other spouse a U.S.
citizen or resident alien on the last day of
your tax year, and that you choose to be
treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax
year.
• The name, address, and identification
number of each spouse.
You will need to print your return in TurboTax. You cannot
e-file. Attach the statement you made to you tax return before mailing.
As my colleague Lina responded to similar query:
If you are a resident for tax purposes, by receiving a Form 1042- S
with the code 16, you will treat it as receiving a scholarship or
fellowship to offset your qualified education expenses if there are
any. Per IRS, you are required to file a Form 1040 to report your
scholarship amount along with your tuition. If you have paid any
qualified tuition expenses out of pocket or with scholarship, you would
enter information by following the steps below. As IRS receives a copy
of your Form 1042-S, you can e-file your tax return. You do not need to
submit your Form 1042-S separately.
In TurboTax online edition,
1. After sign into your account and select Take me to my return
2. At the right upper corner, in the search box, type in 1098t and Enter
3. Select Jump to form 1098T
4. On screen, "Do you want to enter your higher education expenses?" answer Yes.
5. Go through the step-by-step interview questions
6. On screen, "Did you get a 1098-T from school for 2017?" , you will enter no. Follow prompts to enter your info.
