1040-NR-EZ - Spouse is awaiting permanent residency, other is Citizen

[tatsworth]

Good Afternoon,

My wife and I got married in 2019 and I would prefer to file as married jointly. However, before we were married she was on a J-1 visa as an Au Pair nanny through a certified company and I am a U.S. Citizen. She was paid through the host family/company and typically filed a 1040-NR-EZ to pay her portion of taxes in the past. However, now that we are married and awaiting her permanent resident card, she is technically a "Resident" and is in the middle of AOS change of status, and legally not under any visa. I was wondering if we should have her file separately a 1040-NR-EZ and I file my own taxes. Or can we can combine and file jointly while including the 1040 NR form? Or should we file jointly together, and simply submit the 1040-NR and payment separately?

Thank you for your time,

[KarenJ2 · Accepted solution]

You can file married filing jointly as full year residents.

The IRS allows a nonresident spouse to be treated as a resident.  You both will need to manually create a written election to file married filing jointly and to both declare your worldwide income on your return for calendar year 2019.

If, at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is a U.S. citizen or a resident alien and the other spouse is a nonresident alien, you can choose to treat the nonresident spouse as a U.S. resident. This includes situations in which one spouse is a nonresident alien at the beginning of the tax year, but a resident alien at the end of the year, and the other spouse is a nonresident alien at the end of the year.

Please see Publication 519, page 9, Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident.  This page includes the election you will need to make (How to Make the Choice).  You will need to print and mail your return as the election needs to be stapled to your return before filing.

Congratulations on your marriage!

[tatsworth]

Thank you for the thoughtful response Karen. I did some reading through Publication 519 and appreciate it greatly. Only one thing I am still puzzled by. Since my wife was previously an Au Pair and was paid by the host family and in the past used the 1040NR EZ and tax tables to determine how much tax she owed that year and sent it in with payment. In this case, as I typically get a refund, but she owes some tax for 2019, I am not quite sure how to combine those as she does not receive a W2 or employee ID number. I would hope that I could manually enter her income and proper tax calculation in, and have that subtracted from my typical refund and then print out, put together an election and send it in through mail. But that sounds too simple and easy... Or could it really be?

Thank you very much for your time,

Taylor

[DeanM15]

If you file separately, you will each have two separate accounts with the IRS for that year. If you file Married Filing Jointly, then you will have one combined account.  

If your spouse is a resident alien, as KarenJ2 says above, it should not be an issue filing jointly. She will need an ITIN or Social Security number. You can see more about getting an ITIN or Social Security number here. 

Filing jointly means that all her worldwide income is taxable in the US. There are credits for foreign taxes paid on income taxes.