Filing Taxes? - Married to a Canadian and Living in the USA

Hello,

I recently married a wonderful Canuck! She has a visa to work in the States as a nurse. Just wondering if I could get some advice on filing income taxes in the USA, either jointly or single?

I am unclear about the tax implications and advantages or disadvantages. If I continue as Single, are there implications or must I claim her?

Cheers,
Michael

I answer these tax Q's at forums.serbinski.com

But, once married, you CANNOT file singly anymore; you can only file married jointly or married separately.

And, now that she is married to a US citizen, she need to take action to change her status to permanent resident (she is presumably a TN right now), or she could find herself locked out of US nest time she leaves, and out of a job, until she does so.

Thanks for the reply.

She just renewed her work visa, which is good for three years. This cost her a bit of dosh to do. The application fee for an I-485 is over $1000, which would be an additional burden. My preference would be to file income tax separately until her current visa expires. From a tax perspective, the IRS should still do well.

What is the time frame allowed to make the change to a permanent resident?

I looked at the USCIS web site and it doesn't stipulate a grace period.

Theproblem with her TN is that once she married you, she is not considered eligible for re-entry into US on that status -- or any other temp status. Period. You've likely noticed that Cdns like to go back there quite often, so she is at risk of being locked-out.

So, you need to file I-130/I-485/I-765(EAD)/I-131(AP) as soon as possible. Like the day after you married.

Follow up with me on tax at serbinski. There is absolutely NO reason for you to file separately. She is a US tax resident from the time she began working here.

Use the money you will both save in taxes to fund her Green card petition.

Good advice. Thanks!