Taxes for those who are married to a spouse with a H-4 Visa

[Administrator]

This article addresses the issues associated with filing a tax return with your wife who is on an H-4 visa and does NOT have a Social Security or Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN).


You are now in the United States on an H-1B visa and your wife has joined you in the United States on an H-4 visa. She has no job, so she saw no need to get a Social Security number for herself (or the children, if any) when she arrived in the country. You wish to file your tax return, but do not know how to treat your wife on the return. Do you claim her as a dependent, like the children? Also, the tax instructions require that your wife (and the children) have Social Security numbers (SSN). Now what do you do?

As a resident alien, you must file the same return as U.S. citizens, using Form 1040EZ, 1040A or 1040. On this return, you can NEVER claim your wife as a dependent unless you are filing as a dual-status alien. You either file jointly with your wife, or you file Married Filing Separately and your wife files her own tax return. The second option makes no sense because, as a condition of her visa, your wife has no job and therefore probably has no income to report. There are exceptions to this rule, but they are few and far between. Therefore, there is no logical reason for her to file separately, whereas by filing jointly, you can claim your wife’s personal exemption of $3,300 plus double the Standard Deduction, which for 2006 will be $5,150 or $10,300 for a couple filing jointly.

Since it is likely you will file jointly (and claim your children as dependents if you have children), your wife and children need to apply for an ITIN. Starting in 2005, the IRS requires you wait until you file your tax return before applying for an ITIN. The form used to make this application is Form W-7. It can be downloaded from the IRS website at www.irs.gov, along with the instructions on how to fill out the form. You submit a W-7 for each ITIN you apply for, so you will need to fill out one W-7 for your wife and one for each child.

The instructions which accompany the single page Form W-7 are pretty straight forward, and they offer a number of options as to which supporting forms you need to send with the W-7 to get your ITIN. However, by far the easiest document to send is a notarized photocopy of your wife’s and children’s passport. In most states, you can make the photocopy, then bring the photocopy and the passport to your local bank to have it notarized as a true copy . You then fill out the Form W-7 and stapled the notarized photocopy of the passport to the W-7.

When you fill in the tax return, you put your wife’s and children’s names on the return as they appear on their passports. You leave the SSN section next to names BLANK (the IRS will fill in this section when they issue the ITIN). You finish the tax return (probably using commercial or online tax software), then print it out. You attach the W-7 (with the notarized photocopy of the passport) to the tax return with a paperclip and mail it to the address on the W-7 instructions, which in 2006 was in Bensalem, Pennsylvania.

The IRS unit that issues the ITIN will open the envelope, review the W-7 and the supporting documents, and, assuming everything is in order, issue your wife and children their own ITIN. These IRS workers will then manually print the ITINs on your tax return and then process it. If you are getting a refund, you will probably get it about six weeks after you mail the return.

The IRS will mail the ITINs to you in separate envelopes, one for each ITIN. Keep these documents in a safe place, as you can use the ITIN in place of the SSN for some of the official purposes, like applying for credit or registering the children at school. You will also need the ITINs for future tax returns.

I hope you have found this brief article informative. It is the first of many we will post to this forum to serve our guests. If you have any questions, as them in the GENERAL QUESTIONS, CONCERNS, ETC. section of the Taxes for H1B Visa holders and other Employment based Visas Section and let’s discuss it.

[lavdeeps]

Hello,
my scenario ...

I entered US on an F1 Visa on Jan 5th 2004. I was on OPT from August 8th 2005 till January 31st 2006. I am on H1 from february 1st 2006 . My wife entered US on F2 visa on December 2005 . She is now on H4 from March 2006. I did visit my home country a couple of times between December 2004 and August 2005.

Can i file as " married and filing jointly" for the year 2006?

Thanks,
Lav

[Atlanta Tax Guru]

Lav:

Yes, you should be able to file Married Fling Jointly with your wife for 2006.

Normally, since you were under a F-1 visa for part of 2006, you would have to file a dual-status return under First Year Choice. However, since you are married, you and your wife can opt to be treated as resident aliens for the entire year. Given the timeline you provided, that is probably the best course of action.

You will need to download and fill out the Form W-7 from Internal Revenue Service to request an ITIN for your wife (and yourself if you do not already have one). The process for applying for an ITIN is explained below.

[chiles_p]

Hello admin ,

I have a question

first some background : I am currently on H1b and got married last year dec 13 2006 . my wife did not come back with me and she is yet to apply for the H4 visa and is expected to come into the U.S by March end or April second week.

I have received my W2 and this is my dilema . I am filing my taxes as 'single' for 2006 but when i added my wife as a dependent my refund went up . After doing my reserch I found out that an ITIN is required by my wife in order to complete the filing and get my refund.

Q1 Should I wait for my wife to come here ,get the ITIN number and then then file my taxes as 'Married filing joint (even if only one had income) ' ? or
Should i file as ' Single '?

Q2 there are various online tax services and is it true that all online services are the same and the refund amount does not differ from all of them and basically if u choose one the refund stays the same ?

your prompt responce will be most appretiated

Thanks
Chiles.p

[Visa Taxes Expert]

If your wife is in US, you should apply for ITIN form w-7 along with your Resident tax form 1040.

This way you can do a married filing jointly return.

You can buy a Platinum and Service Upgrade pack for the service from VisaTaxes.com

Hope it helps!