Dual status - married filing jointly

[ivaana]

Hello,

Is there a way to file as married filing jointly if we want to file dual status? I would be a resident alien for the whole year, and my husband would be the one to change from nonresident to resident. On the IRS website, we found that we can file married filing jointly if the person who wants to file dual status is married to a resident alien. Having said that, we would need to attach a 1040NR as a statement form, but it cannot be filed as married filing jointly. I tried to get the answer to this on TurboTax live chat (they sent me to Sprintax); on Sprintax they tell me that we cannot file 1040NR there because they don't support dual status.

Thank you.

[LoganathanB]

You can file a resident tax return and do not have to file a dual-status return. If at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is a US citizen or a US resident and the other is not, you can choose to treat the nonresident spouse as a US resident for tax purposes.

Click on the link for more information

Nonresident spouse

[ivaana]

Thank you for the reply! I understand what you are saying.

And in case that we want to file a dual-status return -- is there a way to file it married filing jointly?

[DanielV01]

No.  If you file a dual-resident return, Married Filing Joint is not an option.  Please see this IRS website with additional information:  Taxation of Dual-Status Aliens | Internal Revenue Service  and see the heading "Restrictions for Filing Dual-Status Tax Returns".