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Level 2
posted Feb 13, 2020 11:13:56 AM

Dual Status Alien Married to Non-resident Alien

My visa status changed from F-1 OPT to H1B in March 2019. I was physically present in US on H1B for 266 days in 2019. I got married in October 2019 and my spouse is a student on F-1 visa for all of 2019.

1. Can we file taxes jointly as resident aliens ? If so, 

       a. Should we attach a statement explaining our scenario ? Is there a specific format ? 
       b. Can we take deductions for the tuition fee my spouse paid  for her studies here in 2019 (using 1098 T) ? 
       c. My spouse while on F-1 visa had income. However, the company did not deduct FICA taxes, would TurboTax take care of paying those taxes back while uploading my spouse's W2 ? 
        
Many thanks in advance 🙂 

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1 Replies
Expert Alumni
Feb 13, 2020 11:58:05 AM

1. Yes, there is an election you can take even if you were both nonresidents at the beginning of the year and only one of you qualified as a resident at the end of the year.

  • Please see attached link for IRS publication 519, page 8 for information on this election. Publication 519 US Tax Guide for Aliens You would need to prepare your return in TurboTax and then print your return and manually create the page for the election and attach it to your return before mailing.   You both must declare your worldwide income for calendar year 2019.
  • You should be able to take the same deductions as a US citizen.
  • She needs to see her employer about any FICA tax issues.  TurboTax does not have anything to do with FICA payments.