F1 轉 H1-B 報稅問題 - 海外工作

大家好

最近收到W-2要開始準備報稅，有些問題想請教

2014/8 拿F-1來美，去年十月由OPT轉成H1-B

老婆2016/02 拿F-2來美，也在十月轉成H-4

想請問這種情況下，是否可以把去年整年當作RA一起報稅(Married filing jointly)?

因為試算了一下，若當成NRA報還要補稅，RA married filing jointly可以退不少錢

查了很多關於First year choice的資料，還是不是很清楚正確流程，以及符不符合資格

有在網路上看過有人說這種情況下，我跟太太只能算Dual Status Alien 或NRA

並不能算成RA也不能filing jointly，

有問過CPA朋友，卻說我可以直接當RA報且不用等到2017達到Substantial Presence Test

但是根據我看PUB519裡又有提到，若要做First year choice

要等到2017達到SPT後才可以填1040退稅，所以要先填4868 file extension 到六月左右

想請問大家，我們的情況若想要當作RA一起報稅(Married filing jointly)的話

正確流程到底是甚麼? 又或者我們根本不能當作RA報?

謝謝!

PS.太太目前還沒有ITIN or SSN

PS2.主要讓我有疑問的是以下這段(From Pub 519)

Choosing Resident Alien Status

If you are a dual-status alien, you can choose to be treated as a
U.S. resident for the entire year if all of the following apply.

1, You were a nonresident alien at the beginning of the year.
2, You are a resident alien or U.S. citizen at the end of the year.
3, You are married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the year.
4, Your spouse joins you in making the choice.
*This includes situations in which both you and your spouse were
nonresident aliens at the beginning of the tax year and both of you are
resident aliens at the end of the tax year.




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