How does "alien" on J-1 VISA filing tax as "Married File Jointly" get treaty-based tax exemption?

[Phillips99901]

My spouse is an "alien" on a J-1 VISA and has been working as a school teacher in the U.S. since summer 2022. There is a tax treaty between the U.S. and her home country that allows her wage to be exempted from some taxation for the first three years,

c.f.

* https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/china.pdf

"ARTICLE 19
(Teachers, Professors and Researchers)
An individual who is, or immediately before visiting a Contracting
State was, a resident of the other Contracting State and is
temporarily present in the first-mentioned Contracting State for the
primary purpose of teaching, giving lectures or conducting research
at a university, college, school or other accredited educational
institution or scientific research institution in the first mentioned
Contracting State shall be exempt from tax in the first mentioned
Contracting State for a period not exceeding three years in the
aggregate in respect of remuneration for such teaching, lectures or
research."

* https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/claiming-tax-treaty-benefits

* https://www.irs.gov/individuals/taxation-of-alien-individuals-by-immigration-status-j-1

* https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-901

* https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/tax-policy/treaties

* https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8233

Last year, my spouse and I filed as the "Married File Separately" status, and she was able to claim and get the exemption from this treaty.

This year is the first year we're filing together with the "Married File Jointly" status via the TurboTax website. My spouse is undergoing immigration petition but the immigration status has NOT changed yet -- still J-1 VISA holder.

We are filing our tax using TurboTax website and wondering if it is still possible or a good idea to claim the treaty exemption benefit, and how to do that in TurboTax.

* Is there anything I'm doing obviously wrong here?

* What choices in the TurboTax filing process I should pay attention to?

* To attempt to get the exemption benefit, should I choose to spouse as "dual-status alient" or "non-resident alient" or something else?

* What form or additional material should I add to the filing so the treaty exemption benefit could be evaluated in the process?

[DaveF1006]

Yes. You can exclude your wife's income as part of the treaty exemption and still file Married Filing Jointly.  First, you would need to report her income and then exclude it under the US/China treaty exemption. Here is how to do this once you have reported her income on the return.

1. Log into your account
2. Select Wages and income
3. Less Common income
4. Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099>start
5. Scroll to the bottom of the page to Other Reportable Income
6. Other taxable income, answer yes
7. Then give a brief description of the income and the amount listed..
8. Here enter this as Excluded income under the US/China tax treaty and then enter the income with a minus sign in front of it.

[Phillips99901]

Thanks for the help. To confirm, my spouse's school has given a W-2 form and I've imported it into the system. With that, I should still report with a1099-A form with a negative exemption amount, right?

I also read about "Schedule 1 of Form 1040" on TurboTax tips (see https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/irs-tax-forms/what-is-irs-form-1040-schedule-1/L6By94re4). Is the Schedule 1 and the Schedule A the same thing?