Can two married double-income resident aliens on non-immigrant visas file their taxes jointly?

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
January 15, 2023
2 replies
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My husband and I are international scholars working in the U.S. on non-immigrant visas. Recently, we reached the status of resident aliens. Can we file our taxes jointly as a married couple?

Strangely, I couldn't find any advice on this. While we were still non-resident aliens, we received guidance to file taxes separately despite being married. Note that both of us are on separate individual visas: most guidance for married international scholars I've seen is tailored for situations when one of the spouses has claimed economic dependence and doesn't have any income to report.

Best answer by RalphH1

Married residents can choose to file either jointly or separately. It sounds like you’re already sure about being “residents for tax purposes” for 2022, either with a Green Card or by way of the “Substantial Presence Test” (dates in those links are a year old, as this year’s Publication 519 isn’t yet available, but the rules are the same).

As long as this is the case, the 1040NR (non-resident) rules, as well as the details and circumstances regarding your Visa, are now irrelevant at tax time. You’ll file a 1040 and can certainly do it jointly, which is almost always better than separately, but it’s completely up to you. (If you use our downloadable software, you can compare the results from both ways, as discussed here).