Spouse was an Au Pair but is now awaiting Permanent Resident card, need to file 1040 for her without a W2 and am not sure if I need to "Elect" her as resident.

[tatsworth]

My wife and I married in 2019, she was on a J1 visa as an Au Pair (live in nanny, through a certified company). Now she is not and is awaiting her Permanent Resident card and work permit. However, I am getting a refund while she is required to pay tax on the amount she earned as an Au Pair. (we are filing married, jointly) Totally fine, but she is not able to obtain a W2 as the company does not need to provide those for Au Pair (because they normally have you do a 1040NR, but of course she is a Resident now and can not file that way). Am I correct in adding her income in as "other taxable income" which appeared to automatically plug in the correct tax table and deducted that from my refund and then E-File?

I have read that "electing" through the proper form mailed in with our tax return to elect her as a resident of the US is not necessary if she has been in the US for more than 2 years. She has and so I would imagine this allows me to simply file as I stated above?

Any information on this would be much appreciated.

Thank you for your time,

[ThomasM125]

Since she is not a resident I assume she doesn't have a social security number. If that is so, then you can report the income as other income since she is not required to pay self-employment tax on the income.

You are correct, since she has been in the country for more that two years you don't have to have her do the election to be taxed on her income in the US, since she in considered a resident for tax filing purposes.

[tatsworth]

Thank you for the response. By status, she is a resident of the US while awaiting permanent residency and has had a social security number for some time now. Does that affect me filing her income as "other income" and paying the applicable taxes and then e-file jointly since it appears I have nothing to elect and mail in. 

Thank you,

[SusanY1]

As long as she is no longer present solely on the J-1 visa, which it sounds like is the case, then you are correct that the election is not a requirement and you can include the income as other income and file the return electronically without an issue.