Tax Filing When Spouse Changes from Non-Resident Alien to Permanent Resident

I'm kinda lost with our tax situation this year. My wife got her green card mid-year and now has an SSN. I thought once someone becomes a permanent resident with an SSN, they automatically count as a regular taxpayer for the whole tax year? But now I'm reading about this election thing called 6013(h)? Do we need to bother with that election or can we just file jointly since she has her green card now? The immigration process was complicated enough without the tax mess that follows!

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18 comments

Angel Campbell

•8M

This is a great question about a confusing situation! When your spouse transitions from nonresident alien to permanent resident during a tax year, they're considered a "dual-status alien" for that specific year. By default, dual-status aliens cannot file jointly with their US citizen or resident spouse. However, the 6013(h) election you mentioned is specifically designed for your situation! This election allows you and your spouse to be treated as US residents for the ENTIRE tax year, which means you can file jointly. Filing jointly is usually beneficial tax-wise, so making this election often makes sense. To make the election, you'll file a joint return with a statement attached declaring you're making the 6013(h) election. The statement should explain that one spouse was a nonresident alien at the beginning of the tax year but that both spouses are residents at the end of the year.

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Angel Campbell

•8M

Without the election, they wouldn't need to file two separate returns, but rather one return as a dual-status taxpayer. This means using Form 1040 for the part of the year when the spouse was a resident, and Form 1040-NR for the nonresident portion. It's definitely more complicated than filing jointly! The biggest drawback is that dual-status taxpayers must use the married filing separately status, which usually results in higher taxes compared to joint filing. They also can't claim certain credits and deductions available to joint filers.

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Harold Oh

•8M

After going through the EXACT same situation with my husband last year, I found this amazing service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me so much stress! My husband got his green card in August, and I was totally confused about whether to make that 6013(h) election or what forms to use. I uploaded our documents to taxr.ai and it immediately identified our situation as a "dual-status alien spouse" case. It explained all my options including the 6013(h) election and even provided the exact statement language we needed to attach to our return. The system showed us the tax difference between making the election vs. not making it, which made our decision super easy!

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Harold Oh

•8M

It doesn't file the forms for you, but it gives you all the completed forms with clear instructions on what to file and how. For the 6013(h) election, it created the exact statement we needed to attach to our return, which was huge because I had no idea what to write. The service definitely understood our nonresident/resident spouse situation perfectly. It walked me through all the requirements for making the election (like ensuring both spouses are residents by year-end) and explained how our worldwide income would need to be reported. It even flagged potential issues with foreign bank accounts that we needed to report.

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Amun-Ra Azra

•8M

Just wanted to follow up about taxr.ai that was mentioned earlier. I helped my sister try it for her situation with her husband who got his green card mid-year. It was actually really impressive! She uploaded their documents and it immediately recognized the dual-status alien situation. The best part was how it explained the 6013(h) election in simple terms and showed them exactly how much money they'd save by filing jointly. It even gave them the exact wording for the statement they needed to attach to their return. My sister was super relieved because they saved over $3,800 by making the election! The guidance was spot-on and way more specific than what their regular tax guy told them.

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Gael Robinson

•8M

If you're trying to deal with the IRS directly about your 6013(h) election questions, good luck getting through to them! I spent THREE WEEKS trying to get someone on the phone about this exact issue last year. Then I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it was seriously life-changing. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was connected to an actual IRS agent within 25 minutes (after spending weeks getting nowhere). The agent confirmed exactly what documentation we needed for our 6013(h) election and answered all my specific questions about my wife's transition from nonresident to resident status. Saved me a ton of stress and probably prevented us from making a costly mistake on our taxes.

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Gael Robinson

•8M

It's not magic - they basically automate the IRS phone tree system and call waiting process. They navigate all the prompts and wait on hold for you, then call you once they have an agent on the line. No special backdoor, just technology that spares you the waiting. I absolutely got my specific 6013(h) questions answered. The IRS agent confirmed exactly what documentation we needed to include with our election statement and helped clarify how certain types of income from before my wife got her green card should be reported. Having a real agent address our specific situation was worth every penny.

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Summer Green

•8M

Ok I have to eat my words about Claimyr. After seeing it mentioned here, I was super skeptical but decided to give it a try since I was getting nowhere with the IRS about my spouse's status change from nonresident to resident. I couldn't believe it actually worked! After trying for literally months to reach someone at the IRS about our 6013(h) election questions, Claimyr got me connected to an agent in about 35 minutes. The agent was really helpful and clarified that we needed to include income from the entire year (including my wife's foreign income from before she got her green card) when filing jointly with the election. This was different from what I thought! Would have made a serious mistake without that clarification. Definitely worth it for complicated situations like nonresident/resident spouse issues.

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Darcy Moore

•8M

Yes, that's exactly right. When you make the 6013(h) election, you're choosing to be treated as US residents for the ENTIRE tax year. This means all worldwide income from January 1st onward is subject to US tax reporting requirements, even income earned before your wife physically became a resident. It can seem unfair, but the trade-off is that you get to file jointly, which often saves significantly on taxes overall. You may also be eligible for the Foreign Tax Credit if she paid taxes on that income in her home country, which can offset any US tax owed on the foreign income.

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