DaveF1006
Expert Alumni

Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Yes, you do meet the substantial presence test to file as a US resident for 2021 thus you can file as a 1040 resident for the entire year.  You do not need to file an 8843 for 2021 since you have no income to exclude while you were an exempt individual and are probably not eligible to be exempt in the reasons I have described in the following paragraph.

 

As far as your wife and children, according to the IRS, they cannot claim be exempt individuals if you filed an 8843 in any part of 5 calendar years. From your description above, it seems like you have already filed for them five years previous.  if this is the case, they are no longer exempt and you will not file a 8843 for them in 2021. They still would not be residents for income tax purposes because they do not have a SSN.

 

Your wife and children are not considered resident aliens but can be claimed on your tax return. Your children need to be qualifying children though to be claimed on your tax return.  Here are the Qualifying Child tests that are required by the IRS. In your return, you will need to follow the steps that I outlined in my previous post to obtain an ITIN for them, which is a necessary requirement. In the qualifying child test, it mentions they need a SSN but the ITIN application process will satisfy this requirement.

 

 

 

 

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