Hi, I am on H1 visa and my wife was not in USA for entire 2018. Can i use married filing jointly?

[pk · Accepted solution]

yuvarajpv ji,  as a married person you have only two choices -- MFJ ( Married Filing Joint) or MFS ( Married Filing Sep).  Once you meet the substantial presence test  of 183 days present ( all days in 2018, 1/3 rd. of the days in 2017 and 1/6th of the days present in 2016 )  or you request to be treated as a resident, you are a resident for tax purposes. This is when you are taxed on your world income and you can also file MFJ ( if your spouse has an ITIN  or  you request  for retroactive availability by filing a W-7 and all the required docs along with your return ) and for India ( I assume you are from there ) your spouse does not have to be present here  but you must be the only source of living expenses for  her/ family.

Otherwise you file as MFS on form 1040-NR which is not supported by TurboTax.

Does this cover your case or do you need more  info / help ?