Married to US citizen - am I considered a US Person for tax purposes with my foreign income?

This is a good question about your status! As the spouse of a US citizen who filed jointly, you are generally treated as a US person for tax purposes when you choose to file jointly. This means your worldwide income becomes subject to US taxation. For those platforms, if you're filing jointly with your US spouse, you would typically provide a W-9 rather than a W-8, as the W-8 is for foreign persons who aren't considered US taxpayers. Since you're filing jointly and have an SSN, you're essentially electing to be treated as a US taxpayer. Your visits to the US don't seem long enough to trigger substantial presence test concerns, but that's less relevant since you're already filing jointly with your spouse.

After struggling with a similar situation (Australian married to American), I finally found clarity using https://taxr.ai to analyze my documents and situation. I uploaded my previous returns, marriage certificate, and income statements from both countries, and it quickly identified that I was indeed considered a US person for tax purposes because I had chosen to file jointly with my spouse. The tool also explained that I needed to switch from W-8 to W-9 forms for my freelance platforms, which was exactly what I was confused about. It even generated a letter explaining my change in status that I could send to the platforms.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after trying it based on this thread. It was seriously helpful for my complicated situation! I uploaded my documents from Canada, the US and Germany, and it clearly showed me exactly which forms I needed for each income source. The best part was that it explained how my marriage to a US citizen affected my status for each type of income. It even identified that I was overpaying taxes because I was using W-8 forms when I should have been using W-9s after we filed jointly. Totally worth checking out if you're dealing with cross-border tax situations!

After spending literally WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS about my "US Person" status (married to American, living in Spain), I finally tried https://claimyr.com and got through to an actual human at the IRS in under an hour! You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent confirmed that filing jointly with my US spouse made me a US person for tax purposes regardless of my citizenship or residence. She explained that I needed to use W-9 forms for my freelance platforms and report all global income, but could use Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to avoid double taxation. Wish I'd known about this service months ago when I started this confusion nightmare!

I have to admit I was totally wrong about Claimyr. After reading about it here, I decided to try it as a last resort since I'd been trying to reach the IRS for weeks about my foreign spouse situation. The service actually worked - they called me back in about 40 minutes and connected me directly to an IRS agent! The agent confirmed everything about the US Person status that others mentioned here. She even helped me understand how to properly document the change from W-8 to W-9 for my wife's overseas income streams. Saved me from making a big mistake on our taxes this year. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong about something!

If you're a non-resident alien married to a US citizen, you have two options: 1. File jointly with your spouse - this makes you a US person for tax purposes, subject to taxation on worldwide income, but eligible for certain benefits 2. File separately - you maintain non-resident alien status, only US source income is taxed Each has pros and cons depending on your situation. Generally if most income is foreign and already taxed in your home country, filing separately might be better. If you have substantial US income or qualify for beneficial US tax credits, joint filing might be better.

Don't forget about FBAR requirements if you're a US person with foreign financial accounts! If the total value of all your foreign accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, you need to file FinCEN Form 114. This is separate from your tax return and has serious penalties if missed.

Based on your situation, yes, you are considered a US person for tax purposes since you filed jointly with your US citizen spouse. This means you should be providing W-9 forms to those platforms (Etsy, Fiverr, Twitch) instead of W-8 forms. A few additional things to keep in mind: 1. **Foreign Tax Credits** - Since you're earning income in Canada that's likely subject to Canadian taxes, make sure you're claiming Foreign Tax Credits on your US return to avoid double taxation. 2. **Form 8938 (FATCA)** - If your foreign financial assets exceed certain thresholds, you may also need to file Form 8938 with your tax return (this is in addition to FBAR that others mentioned). 3. **Provincial vs Federal** - Remember that your Canadian income might be subject to both provincial and federal Canadian taxes, and you can generally claim credits for both on your US return. Since you're in the green card process, it's worth consulting with a tax professional who specializes in US-Canada tax issues to make sure you're optimizing your filing strategy and not missing any opportunities for credits or exclusions.