Urgent Tax Question: Do I file for wife?

A

AsyleeTravel

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

Quick question from tax procrastinator ;-) I am a PR who will be eligible for citizenship in May 2008, and my wife (we got married in Dec 2006) is here as a student on a F-1. Do I file 2006 taxes with her as a dependent (i.e. file under married status) to show eligibility for her GC next year ? Or would that create a problem?

Thanks for the help and I love this forum!
 
Either you're going to file as "married filing separately" or "married filing jointly". If it's the first, she'll file her own return if she had any income. If it's the second, you'll combine your income and file one return as a couple. Generally, if one spouse makes a lot less than the other, the numbers work out that you pay less taxes by filing jointly.
 
Thanks! My main concern was to see if this would be ok when I file for her GC next year ..... is it better to be married and have filed taxes together before then or better to show marriage happened legally in the U.S. by going to a marriage court at that point? I just don't want to raise any issues then since we got married back in India in December last year so we are officially married but are choosing to wait until after I become a citizen to file for her GC.

I just want to make sure my citizenship interview and her GC petition go smoothly! Thanks for the help!
 
IRS doesn't require you to show a US marriage certificate. File as married, and show the Indian certificate if they audit you.
 
Is there a way for her, being in F-1 status, to file for GC before you become a citizen?
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Not a good idea, because it would jeopardize her F-1 status (because it requires nonimmigrant intent, and obviously applying for a GC shows that such intent is not there), and it will be years before she would be eligible to file I-485 as a spouse of a green card holder.

But if she graduates and can get an H-1 job, the I-130 could be filed without disturbing the H-1 status, because H-1 does not require nonimmigrant intent.
 
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