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I have a few questions related to what tax forms I need to complete based on my circumstances.

  • I am a U.S. citizen.

  • I lived/worked abroad for several years, up until summer 2017.

  • In summer 2017, I repatriated to the U.S. for a job, and worked in the U.S. for the remainder of the year.

  • I am married, and my spouse is a Green Card holder who did not work in 2017.

Questions:

  1. Because I'm a citizen, I cannot file with dual status, correct?

  2. My wife on the other hand, should file with dual status, even though she didn't earn any money, correct?

  3. For my foreign income, can I just list it on my 1040 and then file 2555EZ?

  4. Is there any way to get the childcare credit if one spouse was looking for a job, but didn't have earned income?

Thanks!

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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DaGu
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1 Answers1

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  1. Because I'm a citizen, I cannot file with dual status, correct?

Correct. As a citizen, you are not an alien, so you cannot be a resident alien, non-resident alien, or dual-status alien.

  1. My wife on the other hand, should file with dual status, even though she didn't earn any money, correct?

It depends. If she is filing separately (i.e. filing status "Married Filing Separately"), she might be dual-status if she became a permanent resident in the middle of the year, and was not in the US before then.

However, generally it would be beneficial tax-wise to file jointly (i.e. filing status "Married Filing Jointly"), which you guys can do with the Choosing Resident Alien Status option, which treats her as a resident alien for the whole year, and you guys would file jointly. Note that treating her as a resident would make her worldwide income the whole year subject to US taxes, though she would be able to use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion on the 12 months before she came to the US.

  1. For my foreign income, can I just list it on my 1040 and then file 2555EZ?

I think so

  1. Is there any way to get the childcare credit if one spouse was looking for a job, but didn't have earned income?

I don't think so

user102008
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