H1B – Bringing spouse in USA

[sunandoghosh]

H1B – Bringing spouse in USA

Hi Friends,
At the outset apologies if I am raising this q in the wrong thread. Could not find a better thread.
I have been in USA this Jan 2011 on H1b. My wife is in India.
I would like her to come here at USA for few weeks. However We are going through a little difficult financial situation.

I wanted to understand from tax implication perspective.

Is it correct that if she comes here for few weeks then I can file a tax return in future for FY 2011 claiming her as a dependent which would double tax deduction?

Pls let me know in this context:

# How much is the deduction available for spouse?
# Is it necessary that she comes to usa on h4 in tax year 2011 to claim the deduction

The reason I am asking is if I can save tax it will offset my cost of tickets for her to and fro.

Pls help me by providing your guidance on following so that I can plan given my little financial difficult situation.

Pls provide ur valuable inputs.
thank you

[Jeff4cpa]

Hi Sunando. If she is on H4 and present 183 days then you can claim a personal exemption ($3,650) for her and file married filing jointly. If you do that, she would have to claim her worldwide income. If you can't get her here you may make an election to file a joint return but it takes some work. See my other post regarding the notorized copy of the passport with the apostille.