When I chose married filing jointly, my wife will be treated as resident alien and she has to pay FICA taxes but F1 students are exempted from that. Someone informed that I have to paper file my taxes and include declaration. What is the declaration? Please advise.
Since you are married, your filing status choices are Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Married Filing Separately (MFS).
If you choose to file as MFJ – (Your wife will need a Social Security or – if not eligible to get one - an ITIN number), You are making a choice to treat your wife as resident alien for tax purposes; you will get exemption for your wife but worldwide income (yours and hers) is reported on your tax return. You may report her education expenses in Deductions & Credits section.
If you choose to file as MFS – you are making a choice to treat your wife as a nonresident alien for tax purposes. You may be able to claim an exemption for your wife only if she has no income from U.S. sources and cannot be claimed as a dependent on anyone else’s tax return. SS number or ITIN is also required. You cannot report her tuition expenses on your tax return.
You will have to do a paper return because you have to make an election from the choices above that has to be signed.
See this IRS link on how to make the election.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-alien-spouse