I am on h1b. I got married on 11 Dec 2020. My wife is still in India and she has not lived in the US in 2020. She currently doesn't have SSN. How should I file my taxes?

[sau0201]

Though we did live together in India for a short duration.
 
Should I file as single or married with joint filing or married with filing separately. and what's the process like?

[pk]

@sau0201 , if you are married by 12/31 of a year then for tax purposes you are married for the whole year.

You have not said  (a) if  wife has been in the USA anytime prior ( like 2019, 2018); (b) when did you enter the USA with H-1B and your prior  stays in the USA --- we need to determine if you are  resident for tax purposes  or a Non-Resident.

If you are resident for tax purposes and filing  form 1040, since you are married your choices are   1. Married Filing Joint ( you can include an application for ITIN for the wife and it will be retrospectively  granted ) OR 2. Married Filing Separate ---  provide wife's name and  in space of Tax ID  hand print NRA.

Is there more I can do for you

Namaste to you

pk

[sau0201]

a.  My wife has never been to the USA. 

b. I am a resident alien as I have been living in the US for the last 5 years.

What's form 1040?

I think filing jointly will be beneficial for me as it will save huge taxes but she has not been living with me. So I am not sure if I can file jointly.

She has no income though and won't be declared dependent by anyone else. 

She may have got some interest from an Indian bank. 

[pk]

@sau0201  Assuming that  you are an Indian citizen / was a resident of India  prior to coming to the USA and that you are a resident for tax purposes,  the fact that your wife does not live here is not necessarily  detrimental.  Generally  you should be able to   file jointly with your  wife ( i.e. you both are  filers),  you can use TurboTax to prepare the return  Married Filing Joint and then  

  (a)  provide your wife's  details   including an obviously fake  tax ID such as  834-55-9999;

  (b) include  your wife's income no matter how small;

  (c) once the return is finished / passed all the  tests that TurboTax does, print the return;

  (d)   eradicate/snopake  the  fake  tax id for your  wife and hand  write in " N R A "  in its place;

  (e) sign and date -- both of you have to sign -- you have all the way till October 15th to finish all this  -- but sooner the better.

 Next  download  the    form W-7  and its instruction , see:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf  

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw7.pdf

Fill out the  form, provide all the documentation required   ( this can be done  at an US consulate in India )

Next  prepare and include a letter signed by both of you  that  you both wish her to be treated as a resident for the year 2020 .

The result of all this is for the IRS to   1. tax her  world income as also yours;  2. to issue an ITIN to your  wife retrospectively only for  return filing purposes.

 Does this help ?  Do you need more help on this or any other area of your filing ?   How did you file  for 2019 ?

Namaste

pk

[sau0201]

She came to the USA now on 13th Aug 2021, so she cant apply to US consulate for form W-7. Whats should be done in that case

[pk]

@sau0201 , you can still file for 2020  ( since you were married before the end of the year ) as MFJ and attached  W-7, documents needed -- copies thereof, and letter requesting  treatment as  resident for the year.  This will result in retrospective issuance of   ITIN for her.   It definitely will work for 2021 and I think  this should also work for the 2020.

Namaste

pk