You'll want to apply for those ITINs as soon as you can. The applications can take several weeks to be processed. You can find a local acceptance agent by looking for your state here: IRS: Acceptance Agent Program These agents can meet with your wife and son to verify their identity, make copies of their passport and other documents, and send those copies to the IRS with the ITIN applications. This prevents you from having to mail the original passports to the IRS. Each accepting agent will set their own fees -- so call around.
Your wife will not be claimed as a dependent on your tax return. You'll file a joint return with yourself as the primary taxpayer and her as the secondary taxpayer (or spouse). The "standard deduction" for a Married Filing Joint return is double the standard deduction for a Single return or a Married Filing Separate return. For 2024, this means that the first $29,200 of your income is not subject to income tax.
For your son, if he qualifies as your dependent by meeting all of the required tests, then you may receive a credit for him as an "Other Dependent" of $500. He doesn't qualify for the higher "Child Tax Credit" because he doesn't have a Social Security Number. (This credit may be limited by your overall income if your adjusted gross income on a joint return is more than $400,000.)
TurboTax has a great article here about the rules for who can be a dependent: Rules for Claiming Dependents on Taxes
And the IRS offers an Interactive Tax Assistant here: Whom may I claim as a dependent?
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-- KimberW
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