I have a J2 visa and I just move to the US (my wife, J1, is a resident alien): am I resident alien or non resident alien for tax purposes?

[giangaviglio]

Hello. My wife is a J1 student visa holder who is resident alien for tax purposes since she has lived in the US for more than 6 years. I am a J2 visa holder who moved to the US in 2015 and I have been working in California since January 2015. Am I resident alien or non resident alien for tax purposes?

[LinaJ2018]

As a J-2 visa holder, you are exempt from counting days for 2015 and 2016.  As you are considered as a nonresident, if your spouse who is a resident chooses to make an election to claim you as a resident, then you two can file a form 1040 as residents with filing status Married Filing Jointly.  Nonresident Spouse treated as resident

If your spouse does not make the election, she will be filing form 1040 Married Filing Separately and you will file as a nonresident on form 1040-NR.  Since TurboTax does not support the form NR, you are suggested to use Sprintax to complete your filing.  

[fabripol]

Hi! I have a related question you may could help me with. My wife is J-1, resident alien. I'm also J-1, but non-resident yet. We decided to file jointly, so I'm considered resident alien for tax purposes. We have a child, J-2,  can we claim the child care deductions for him? Thanks!

[ReneeM7122]

Yes, you can claim credits for your child although you do not have a SSN, as long as the child has an SSN and meets the following requirements:

The child must:

• Be your daughter, son, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, or their descendant.
• Be under age 17 at the end of the tax year.
• Not provide more than half of their own financial support during the tax year.
• Must have lived with you for more than half of the tax year (certain exceptions exist).
• Be claimed as a dependent on your tax return.
• Not file a joint tax return for the year (except when only filing to claim a refund of withheld income taxes or estimated taxes paid).
• Be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.
• Have a Social Security Number issued by the Social Security Administration that is valid for employment.

 Here is a TurboTax article about the Child Tax Credit.

@fabripol

[Ahmedshebl1310]

Hello, 

I have a quite similar situation. I am a J1 holder, and I have been here in the US for more than 3 years, I filed last year as a resident alien. 

My wife just has arrived at the US 2 months ago. She is on a J2 visa now. Is she considered now a resident or nonresident alien? 

[NCperson]

see thes links: 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/resident-aliens#:~:text=You%20are%20a%20resi....

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/nonresident-spouse

"In some cases, aliens can choose to be treated as U.S. resident aliens. For example, if, at the end of the tax year, you are a resident alien and your spouse is a nonresident alien, the two of you can choose to treat the nonresident alien spouse as a U.S. resident alien and file Form 1040 using the filing status married filing jointly."

[Ahmedshebl1310]

Thank you for your kind reply.

My question is "Is she currently a resident or nonresident alien?" as she opened a new bank account for her, and they are asking her to fill W8BEN form, and I am not sure what she is supposed to do as we are not sure what her current status is!

She has not applied for a work permit, and she doesn't have a SSN

Thank you!

[NCperson]

@Ahmedshebl1310 - I imagine she is a non-resident alien since she hasn't passed the substantial presence test yet; however for tax purposes, you can choose to assume she is a Resident Alien and file joint.   Your question really is about Banking Policy (FATCA) and not Tax Policy.  

[Ahmedshebl1310]

Thank you for your reply. It is really helpful.

For Banking Policy, is there any problem with her opening a bank account with a deposit of around 7000 $ to help her during pregnancy and delivery time? They are asking us to fill out these forms, and we are not sure what the reason is for that.

[NCperson]

I am not familiar enough with FATCA to comment - that is a Banking policy and you are asking a community of tax indiviudals.