Can I do Joint filing with my non-resident spouse on F1 visa? Robinhood tax forms question

Based on your situation, you can definitely file jointly by making what's called a "Section 6013(g) election" to treat your non-resident spouse as a resident for tax purposes. This is actually pretty common for international couples. For this to work, one spouse needs to be a US resident (that's you) and you need to be married by the end of the tax year (which you were in 2024). By making this election, your wife will be treated as a US resident for the entire tax year, and you'll file Form 1040 together. As for the Robinhood capital gains, even though they're not reported on the 1042-S, you still need to report them. You'll need to use your wife's Robinhood account statements to determine the buy and sell prices, then calculate the capital gains manually. Report these on Schedule D and Form 8949. Robinhood should have a transaction history available for download that shows all buys and sells with their dates and amounts. Just be aware that making this election means your wife's worldwide income becomes subject to US taxation, not just her US-source income. This election stays in effect for future years until it's terminated.

I was in almost the exact same situation last year with my husband on F1! I spent hours trying to figure out our taxes and eventually found https://taxr.ai which literally saved me. Their AI analyzed all our documents including the weird Robinhood statements and figured out exactly how to handle the capital gains situation. The system automatically detected that we could make the 6013(g) election and guided us through including the statement with our return. It even explained how making my spouse a resident for tax purposes would affect our overall tax situation comparing different scenarios. For the Robinhood capital gains specifically, I uploaded the transaction history PDF and it extracted everything accurately - all the buys, sells, dates, and calculated the short vs long term gains correctly. Saved me from having to manually enter like 50+ transactions!

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai that someone recommended here. I decided to give it a try since my situation with my non-resident spouse was so confusing. It was actually really impressive! The system immediately recognized our eligibility for the 6013(g) election and explained the pros and cons. For our Robinhood situation, I just uploaded the account statements and it extracted all the capital gains transactions correctly, even identifying which ones were long-term vs short-term. The best part was how it handled my wife's foreign account reporting requirements (FBAR stuff) which I didn't even know we needed to deal with. Probably saved us from a potential audit headache there. If anyone else is dealing with the non-resident spouse situation, definitely check it out. Whole process took maybe 2 hours instead of the days I spent last year trying to figure everything out manually.

If you're having trouble reaching the IRS to ask about your specific situation (which is pretty likely this time of year), I'd recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to an actual person at the IRS. You can also check out their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was stuck in a similar situation with international filing questions that were too specific for TurboTax, and I couldn't get through to the IRS for weeks. Claimyr got me connected to an IRS representative in about 20 minutes after I had been trying for days on my own. They handle the hold time for you and just call when an agent is ready. The IRS rep confirmed that we could file jointly with the 6013(g) election and explained exactly how we needed to document our capital gains from overseas investment accounts that didn't provide standard tax forms. Seriously worth it for peace of mind on complex situations like yours.

OK I have to admit I was totally wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it because I was desperate to ask about my international marriage situation before filing deadline. I was SHOCKED when I got a call back in about 35 minutes saying they had an IRS agent on the line. The agent was super helpful about my non-resident spouse questions and confirmed exactly how to handle our situation with the joint filing election. They also helped me understand how to report my wife's foreign pension which wasn't generating any US tax forms. Honestly saved me from making a major mistake on our return. For anyone dealing with unusual international tax situations where you really need to talk to a human at the IRS - this service is legit. I'm usually the first person to call out anything that seems fishy, but I'm genuinely impressed.

Just want to add one important thing about the joint filing election - if you go this route, make sure your wife has either a Social Security Number or an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number). You can't make the election without a tax ID number for her. If she doesn't have either one yet, you should apply for an ITIN using Form W-7 when you file your return. Just be aware this will delay your processing time. Also, think carefully about whether joint filing is actually beneficial in your situation. Sometimes it's better tax-wise to file separately if your non-resident spouse has significant foreign income that would become taxable in the US under the election.

Random question - but does anyone know if TurboTax can handle this kind of situation with the Section 6013(g) election and manually entering capital gains that aren't on any tax forms? Or is this the kind of situation where you need a specialized tax preparer?