JAJ

Claiming an exemption for spouse normally requires an ITIN/SSN.
However, it's possible her U.S. tax payable is zero. If so, no need to amend.

If she does have a U.S. tax liability she ought to be able to amend her married/separate return later on to include an exemption for her husband once he has an SSN. It doesn't seem worthwhile to go to the trouble of obtaining an ITIN if there is an intention to immigrate to the U.S.

Normally, it would not be suggested to amend to married/joint. It is not usually a good idea to file that way until residence has been established in the United States. But every case is different.

Speedwell

It is, sometimes. I had a huge tax liability last year because of a commodity I had to sell to meet emergency expenses, and the broker reported the transaction but didn't withhold any tax. By getting an ITIN for my husband, having him request to be considered a resident for tax purposes, and filing joint (he wasn't working for a large part of the year), I was able to turn a huge tax bill into a significant return (it paid for the high-powered accountant I hired, anyway lol).

civilservant

I know nothing about US taxes.

We will be filing jointly for the first time this year - is there a tax break for that then?

Speedwell

The amount of tax you have to pay generally goes down as household size increases, assuming the same income. So if you claimed a dependent spouse, two dependent children, a dependent elderly mom, and a dependent disabled friend, you would get one exemption for yourself and a deduction for each dependent. There are a lot of rules. If your qualifying dependent mother moved to a retirement home, you might be able to still claim her as a dependent if you paid most of her expenses. Same goes with your child in college. You generally can't claim someone as a dependent if they made more than a certain amount during the year unless they didn't take the exemption for themselves because you took it; they would also probably have to file their own taxes then unless they were your spouse and you filed jointly with them. Confused yet?

In general, filing jointly results in a lower tax liability than filing separately, because of the way the tax liability is calculated. Your accountant should know what applies in your case. If your tax return is simple, or if you have good tax software, then you could calculate it both ways yourself just to see what effect it has to file either way.

It sounds very complicated, but if you have only income from working in a job where taxes are withheld from your paycheck for you, it is fairly simple.

civilservant

Yeah, I'm lost. Oh for the simplicity of PAYE.

This year is going to be a mess I'm sure, since I've worked 3 months only in the US.

theOAP

This is a grey area. A simple answer for one situation may not be simple given a different situation.

It's my understanding an NRA can not file a joint return,......unless they have filed the appropriate declaration with the IRS noting the US Person spouse (I assume your high-powered accountant did this). See Publication 54. Once the declaration is filed, the NRA must continue to file a US return every following year, even if they end up filing 'married separate', until the declaration is revoked by the parties.

For the OP, this is not a problem since (as I understand it) they will be residing in the US the following year. It therefore makes sense to file 'married joint'.

If not returning to the US, the NRA spouse must understand that they are required to file a US return for all following years. Not everyone understands/abides by this rule, which may come back to bite them in the backside at some future time/event. Technically, you can not file MFS one year, file MFJ with an NRA spouse the next year, and then go back to MFS the third year unless the declaration is made and then revoked. Once revoked, it can never be re-instated.

Bink

To add to this. It seems that the most benefit comes from an unequal income situation - i.e. one partner makes much more than the other (or the other doesn't work). From my reading of it, it appears to be far less beneficial where both earn a similar amount.

In my case, getting married (my wife is a SAHM and even before that her income was very low compared to mine) saves me an awful lot of money on tax.

civilservant

Well for this year the income will be very unequal - me having worked 3 months and her a full year. Not sure if this will actually make any difference though - guess we'll see.