Can I declare my nonresident alien children as my dependents and claim child tax credit & claim for the stimulus fund credit

[pk]

@Illia , Namaste ji

(a) generally agreeing with my colleague @Vanessa A 

(b)  You can indeed file MFJ  (  need to include  a statement  that  you both agree to treat your spouse a resident and be taxed on world income).  

(c) To be able to include your child as a dependent, you need to :

          1. prepare the return including the child on your return---- use a dummy SSN  such as  121-34-6000 .

          2. When  all is done , choose to file by "mail".

          3. Print the return,  snopake the  dummy SSN used  for your child, replace with  " N  R  A "

          4.  Sign date etc.

           5. down load  form W-7 from the IRS site ( it is  fillable PDF ), fill it out for the child, collect all the  documents required  ( a copy plus the originals ).

           6.  You can mail the whole lot to the IRS   OR  preferably  visit the local IRS office ( there is one  in most big towns ) and have them certify the  document copies.  Then mail the  whole thing.

            7.  This would allow  the IRS to issue  ITIN for the child retroactively.

           8 Note that    you need to make sure that  your return shows  the child dependent credit and not child tax credit.  If not  IRS will certainly catch this and reduce your credit ( as it should ).  

One point I am  surprised about   (m it is not directly a tax item though  and therefore can PM me  ) that your status was adjusted from J2 to L1  .  

Is there more I can do for you ?

Namaste Illia ji

pk

[Illia]

Hi @Vanessa A  and @pk ,

Thank you so much for confirming that my understanding is correct and providing additional guidance.

In general that is what i was planning to do - go to an IRS office to certify copies of documents for ITIN.

I have originally arrived in a dependent status but subsequently my employer filed a petition with USCIS to change and extend my status as the J2 was supposed to expire in 4 months. J statuses of my spouse and son were then extended by another year so they decided to keep these rather than filing for a change of status to L2.

[pk]

@Illia , 

 Since your spouse is J-1, you may want to familiarize yourself with  US-India tax treaty ( available at  IRS  -- just hunt for tax treaty ).   There is a gotcha there ----  we can discuss this  by PM if you want.   I have not come across any case law , but I disagree with the technical  explanation by the US side .    Treaty uses  'MAY" very deliberately whereas  US views this as "WILL".

Is there more I can do for you ?

Namaste ji

pk