FYC Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident Can I do with Turbotax?

[mufasayang]

Me and my wife are qualified to use First Year Choice and Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident in order to be considered as RA for 2020 whole year, questions:
1) which 1040 do we file jointly?
2) can we do this with Turbotax?

[pk]

@mufasayang ,  as a prospective resident for tax purposes  ( assuming you and your spouse both qualify), you use form 1040 which is fully supported by TurboTax.   So the answer to your  question is  (i) form 1040   and      (ii) YES. 

However, in order to be sure  we are all on the same page , please could you answer the following  questions: ?

(a) which country  are you and your wife from

(b) what  visas are you and your wife on

(c) when did you each enter the USA and were either of you here in the USA during 2019 and 2018 ( and of course for how many days)

(d) do you have any children/ dependents here in the USA

Anything else  that you think may be pertinent

Look forward to your response

pk

[mufasayang]

Thanks for reply pk!

So we are both from China, I received H1B last year and been on H1B since Oct. 2020.

I e-filed 4868 earlier this year, before deadline.

My wife was full time student in 2020, and she entered US in 2017, same as I.

We were married in 2017.

She is still on F1.

My travel history since 2017-12-31:

 2019: 21 day out side of US

My wife's:

2020: 8 days out side of US

2019: 81 days out side of US 

2018: 23 days out side of US

And we do not have children / dependents

[pk]

@mufasayang , having gone through your responses to my questions  -->

1. yes you are a resident for tax purposes  for the year 2021 -- started counting days  from Oct. 2020 with the  adjustment of status.

2. You have SSN 

3. You wife is still on F-1, a full time student ( as required  ) and therefore exempt  from counting days till the  end of the calendar year 2021.  However since she is married to a  Resident for tax purposes, she is eligible to request to be treated as a resident  for tax purposes for the whole year .   Assuming that  she has SSN, then  all she has to do is to file a joint return with you  and send in a letter  signed by both you and her  requesting to be treated as a resident for tax purposes for the whole year of 2021.  This does mean that you will have to file by mail ( attachments  sometimes do not work as intended).

4. If your wife does not have SSN and is not eligible for one , she can request an ITIN from the IRS -- if you need help in how to do that, let me know --- there have been a lot of  write up on this topic ( ITIN being issued retrospectively)

5. Two points to note  ---   (a)  it is probably advisable to carry on with her F-1 if she wishes to  continue studying and be free to use OPT /etc. facilities  when she wishes to .  If she adjusts her status to H-2  -- a dependent visa, those  work permits may not be available -- please check with DHS and  your school;  (b) note that while  using the  Married Filing Joint is the most tax benign filing status,  you also open her to  US taxation on any foreign income she may have;  (c) Note that US- China treaty allows  the exclusion of  first $5000 per  student/trainee as long as he/she is in the USA temporarily -- this may not be applicable if she changes her status to dependent visa ( H-2/4).

Is there more I can do for you ?

[mufasayang]

Hi pk,

Thanks for your note!

Just few more questions and clarifications:

1) we are trying to file tax return for 2020, and if I choose first year choice + non-resident to be treated as residents, I think both of us can be considered as residents for whole year 2020 right?

2) she has ssn, and was full time student in 2020, now in 2021 she has full time job.

3) looks like there's 2 documents we need to file, one is declaration of using FYC, another is the document you mentioned for both of us to be treated as residents. So I guess turbotax cannot support this use case?

4) can we still use turbotax to get 1040 form, and download it, then manually attach the 2 documents to mail to IRS?

5) is there any other documents we need to mail to IRS as well?

Thank you!

[pk]

@mufasayang , that should work

stay safe

pk