First year tax return - mail or e-file?

[journadian 13]

As a perm res married filing jointly with american citizen the first return needs to be mailed?  I feel like I've read it somewhere on the internet but I can't find an actual quote on the IRS site.

 

Also H&R Block told me it can be e-filed.

 

I'm not sure..

 

Please advise.

Edited March 29, 2017 by journadian

[Ben&Zian 4,398]

Don't see why you couldn't just e-file, whether jointly or separately.

[p-ana 933]

I was able to e file (married filing jointly with my USC husband) 

[journadian 13]

Thanks for the replies!  I've become extremely paranoid with getting it right.. seriously no kidding when they say american taxes are hard...  

[neilsqueen 433]

1 hour ago, journadian said:

Thanks for the replies!  I've become extremely paranoid with getting it right.. seriously no kidding when they say american taxes are hard...  

LOL for sure!  When you read about it having to be mailed, it might be when one of the spouses is still living in their original country and doesn't have a social security number.  That's what my husband and I had to do our first year of marriage.  When he came to the states, he received his SS # and then we were able to e-file.  Best wishes on the headache of taxes lol!

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

What you also might have seen is for ppl that want to use 2555 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion for money earned prior to becoming permanent residents. You are only allowed to use this exclusion for money earned during the time of being a permanent resident. One can then choose to be treated as a resident for tax puroses for the whole year. It's this election statement that requires one to paper file. 

The same election statement is also necessary for a non-resident to be able to file MFJ with their USC spouse, which is done a lot on here for K1's that want either to claim the same exclusion or to file jointly to show as proof of comingling finances for future AOS and/or ROC interviews.