I am non US-citizen under F1 OPT in 2016, then I got married to a US citizen and got my green card in Jan 2017.Can my spouse and I use TurboTax to file jointly for 2016?

giard005 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 00:11:33 GMT

Here are some details:
Dec 2015: got married to US citizen
January 2016: started working in the US under F1 OPT (in the meantime, my spouse and I applied to change my legal status to permanent resident). During this time at work, I paid FICA taxes.
January 2017: received my green card and now my legal status changed to permanent resident.
My spouse and I would like to file our taxes for 2016 jointly and treat me as permanent resident (although I was not until Jan 17). Can this be done with TurboTax? My understanding is that we would need to send an attachment stating that we are deciding to treat me as a permanent resident. Is this something that TurboTax offers? Also, will I get reimbursed for the FICA taxes that I paid while under OPT if we file jointly?

Yes, you may use TurboTax to file a US resident return....

DanielV01 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 00:11:34 GMT

Yes, you may use TurboTax to file a US resident return. In this case, you may prepare the Federal (and state) returns, but you will need to mail them in to attach the above statement. That statement will simply state that you and your citizen spouse wish to both be treated as residents for tax purposes. This statement will allow you to treat your 2016 income as normal earned wages and not have to file Form 1040NR.

The FICA tax is another story. Please see this website for more information: http://www.happyschools.com/opt-exempt-fica-taxes/. There is no question that you could request the taxes back filing as an exempt student, but when you opt to file as a resident, this reimbursement is not available on the resident return. Please see this answer provided by SuperUser bine22 on this: https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3905474

Having said that, paying in the social security and medicare does have the advantage of working towards your retirement when you will want to have those funds available to you. In addition, filing the resident return will give you access to credits and deductions you did not have before, so it may balance itself out in the end.

topic I am non US-citizen under F1 OPT in 2016, then I got married to a US citizen and got my green card in Jan 2017.Can my spouse and I use TurboTax to file jointly for 2016? in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

I am non US-citizen under F1 OPT in 2016, then I got married to a US citizen and got my green card in Jan 2017.Can my spouse and I use TurboTax to file jointly for 2016?

Yes, you may use TurboTax to file a US resident return....