Tax return

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Hi, Need a clarity.

Became a resident of USA(Green Card) since December 2016 and stayed less than 2 weeks. My wife is a non-resident and she is living in India. Both of us are working in India.

Should I have to take my wife income also while filing my tax return?

Should I have to approach a tax consultant or can I work on any online tax software services. If so pl let me know a simple way of filing the tax.

Thank you in advance.

Devy.

[newacct]

Hi, Need a clarity.

Became a resident of USA(Green Card) since December 2016 and stayed less than 2 weeks. My wife is a non-resident and she is living in India. Both of us are working in India.

Should I have to take my wife income also while filing my tax return?

Should I have to approach a tax consultant or can I work on any online tax software services. If so pl let me know a simple way of filing the tax.

Thank you in advance.

Devy.

You can file as either Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately.

If you file as Married Filing Jointly, you would need to report your wife's income also (though she might be able to exclude the taxes on the first ~$100K of her earned income by using the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion). She would need to apply for an ITIN if she doesn't already have an SSN or ITIN.

If you file as Married Filing Separately, you would not have to report your wife's income, but your taxes might be higher than if you filed Married Filing Jointly.

You might want to find someone familiar with US expat taxes.

[Lewis-H]

Filing separately may be beneficial if you need to separate your tax liability from your spouse's, or if one spouse has a significant itemized deduction.
Filing separately can disqualify or limit your use of potentially valuable tax breaks, but you should consider both ways to see which way will save you more in taxes.