Filing Joint Tax Return with Conditional Residency

[makoy 0]

My Wife and I have been married 2 years. She arrived here in the USA in November 2010. She has not worked nor earned any income. We are awaiting her green card. She doesn't have a SSN yet. Should we file for Joint Tax Return and what should we know about doing so if anything special?

Thanks,

Makoy

[mawilson 2,133]

Should we file for Joint Tax Return and what should we know about doing so if anything special?

If you're married, you can choose between the Married Filing Jointly and

Married Filing Separately filing statuses. You can no longer use the

Single filing status, for obvious reasons.

Your wife's immigration status has absolutely nothing to do with your

tax filing status - the latter is purely a financial decision. You

should weigh the financial pros and cons and decide for yourself which

status is better for you.

Generally speaking, the Married Filing Jointly filing status provides

more tax benefits than Married Filing Separately, especially if your

wife has not worked or earned any income.

The standard deduction that married couples can claim on a joint return

is double the deduction that single taxpayers get, and the margin rates

for joint returns is also much better.

Still, you should run the numbers both ways and see which one gives

you a better refund.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Topic moved from Off-Topic to 'Moving Here and Your New Life in America' as a more appropriate location for this discussion

[pookaphilus 12]

If you're married, you can choose between the Married Filing Jointly and

Married Filing Separately filing statuses. You can no longer use the

Single filing status, for obvious reasons.

Your wife's immigration status has absolutely nothing to do with your

tax filing status - the latter is purely a financial decision. You

should weigh the financial pros and cons and decide for yourself which

status is better for you.

Generally speaking, the Married Filing Jointly filing status provides

more tax benefits than Married Filing Separately, especially if your

wife has not worked or earned any income.

The standard deduction that married couples can claim on a joint return

is double the deduction that single taxpayers get, and the margin rates

for joint returns is also much better.

Still, you should run the numbers both ways and see which one gives

you a better refund.

Agree...as for us, we filed Married Filing Jointly. I also do not have work but I had a SS#. Your wife can apply for a SS# if she has an EAD card already. I applied for a SS# after we got married but they issued me with my maiden name, then as soon as I got my EAD, we apply for a change of name. Whenever we filed our ITR, my SS# was still with my maiden name but on the ITR forms we used my married name..God bless!!.