@Pooja Singhi ,
1. If you file jointly with your husband then your foreign tax credit , while recognized US$ for US$, the amount allowed would be based on a ratio of your foreign income to your joint world income and so unless your income in India was much higher than that of your Husband's US income, you will get a smaller allowable credit for the year. The unallowed portion of the credit is available for use against tax on 2021 foreign income or in future years provided you have foreign income on those years . It is generally a losing proposition as the mop-up of the foreign tax credit is almost always asymptotic. If you do not plan to go work abroad i.e have foreign income, it may not be a good idea.
2. If you file Married f Filing Separate ( MFS) then because your world income is the same as your world income for 2022, you may be able to use up all or most of your foreign tax credit.
3. Assuming that you have already taken care of your foreign earnings for the period Sept 2021 through 12/31/2021 and here we are talking only about foreign earnings 01/01/2022 through 09/30/2022 or thereabouts.
4. Whether you worked as self-employed or for an Indian entity, for US tax purposes you essentially file as self-employed thus triggering SECA ( Self-Employment Tax ) equivalent to FICA ( Social Security and Medicare taxes but at 15.3% because there is no employer to share with ). Thus even if you are able to exclude all your foreign Earned Income ( and housing ) you still have to pay the SECA --, implying your Indian wages excluded is around 20K or thereabouts. On your AGI you should therefore see an adjustment of $1500 or thereabouts to equalize ( token ) the field with US wage earners.
Does this make sense ? And is there more I can do for you ?
Namaste Pooja ji
pk
