Question

I am working on H1b Visa and need advice on filling tax return for 2019.

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
March 14, 2020
1 reply
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I am on H1B visa and my wife is on H4 Visa. We have stayed in USA for 2 years and moved again in 2019 and below are details:

2017 Year: My wife and I have stayed in USA from March to Dec and filled return as married jointly.

2018 Year: My wife and I have stayed from 1st Jan to 31st Dec and filled return as married jointly.

2019 Year: My wife went back to India on 14th Jan and I went back to India on 8th March. I came back to USA again on 27th Sept 2019 and my wife cam on 22nd Jan 2020. So Overall My stay in USA is around around 167 days and my wife stay is only for 14 days. We both have child in India and my kid came to USA on 22nd Jan 2020.

Questions:

1. Since my wife and I have stayed in most of 2017 & 2018 years, can i file return for 2019 as married jointly? Are we meeting substantial presence test for 2019 year for Resident Alien?

2. If I can't file tax return as married jointly for 2019 return then can file for extension this year? If yes, do we need to include my child as dependent for overall income of 2019 + 2020?

I am confused and please help us what precautions and what tax status I should go for as per Legal rules.

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pk12_2

Employee

@patilmukesh123 , looking at your days present in the USA -- 2019 ( 162 days ), 2018 ( 122 days -- 1/3 of the total days ) --- thus you are Resident Alien for Tax purposes for 2019.

Your wife's visa a dependent visa and so her status is the same as yours for 2019.

You can file as Resident for Tax purposes, using form 1040 ( supported by TurboTax), Married Filing Joint. For this status of course you need TIN ( SSN or ITIN for each person ). Adding your child as a dependent generally requires that your home is his/her main home except for temporary absences and also requires ITIN/ SSN for the child. Note that when you file as a resident for the whole year, your world income is taxed by the USA -- thus for the period when you were in India, that income will also US taxation. Any taxes paid to India on that doubly taxed income would be eligible for tax credit or a deduction ( if you itemize).

Part of the uncertainty I have is whether your visa was terminated when you left the USA in 2019 i.e. was this a new H-1B that you came back on?

Namaste ji