On H-1B since 2025 with a spouse in India or abroad: how to file a joint 2026 return, step by step

Should you file jointly this year?

A joint return usually costs less when your spouse earns little abroad. Excluded foreign pay still raises the rate on your own income, so work out the tax both ways.

Form 2555 excludes up to $132,900 of 2026 foreign pay (Rev. Proc. 2025-32); an electing spouse with a tax home abroad "can qualify" with 330 full days abroad (Form 2555 instructions). Form 1116 credits foreign tax instead, but not tax on excluded pay (Publication 54).

Can you also file jointly for 2025?

Generally yes, by a joint amended return, if on December 31, 2025 you were a US resident and your spouse was not. You cannot if you were a nonresident that day, unless a first-year choice on your 2025 return made you a resident.

1. File Form 1040-X with a Form 1040 marked "Amended", the 2025 statement and your spouse's 2025 worldwide income (Publication 519). Both of you sign Form 1040-X (Form 1040-X instructions).
2. Generally, file within 3 years from filing the original return or 2 years from paying the tax, whichever is later, and amend any later return already filed.
3. The choice then carries into 2026, so the 2026 return needs only the box. Ask a preparer which return to file first, and about your spouse's ITIN.

Does your spouse have a valid ITIN, or do they need Form W-7?

Your spouse needs an SSN or an ITIN on the joint return (IRS). If your spouse has no valid ITIN and is not eligible for an SSN, they apply on Form W-7 (ITIN guide), sent with the return (Form W-7 instructions).

A spouse admitted to the US for permanent residence or employment is eligible for an SSN. They apply on Form SS-5, not Form W-7 (Form W-7 instructions).

1. Check any ITIN your spouse already has. ITINs "not included on at least one tax return filed in the last 3 consecutive tax years (2023, 2024, or 2025) will expire on December 31, 2026" (Form 1040-C instructions). To renew, check "Renew an existing ITIN" and box e, answer "Yes" on line 6e and give the ITIN on line 6f.
2. For a new ITIN, check "Apply for a new ITIN" and box e, "Spouse of U.S. citizen/resident alien", and enter your name and SSN beside box e. On line 6e, check "No/Don't know" unless your spouse ever had an ITIN or IRSN.
3. Line 6a is your spouse's citizenship, 6b any tax number from their country of residence, 6c any US visa (type, number, expiry date). On line 6d, check passport and enter its issuer, number and expiry date. For the entry date, a spouse who has never been to the US writes "Never entered the United States". Write "N/A" in every section that does not apply, such as 6c with no visa and 6g; leave no section blank.
4. Send the original passport, unexpired, or a copy certified by the issuing agency or a US embassy or consulate abroad; contact it first, as services vary (Form W-7 instructions). Notarized copies are refused (ITIN documentation FAQs).
5. Or apply through a Certifying Acceptance Agent in the US or abroad (IRS), who interviews your spouse in person or by video, with the passport or certified copy in hand (IRS).
6. Your spouse signs Form W-7 by hand, unless the power of attorney box is checked and Form 2848 attached.

What do you collect and convert to dollars?

Collect both spouses' 2026 income records from every country and convert foreign amounts to dollars.

1. Your Forms W-2, which employers send by Monday, February 1, 2027, and any Forms 1099.
2. Your spouse's pay records, any tax paid abroad, and their dates outside the US.
3. Interest from every account abroad for both of you. Schedule B is needed for over $1,500 of taxable interest or ordinary dividends, or for any foreign financial account (Part III) (2025 Schedule B instructions).
4. Each foreign account's highest and year-end balance, for Form 8938 (step 6) and the FBAR (step 9).
5. An exchange rate: in general, the rate when you receive the money, though the IRS accepts "any posted exchange rate that is used consistently" (IRS). On October 27, 2026, its yearly table had no 2026 rate.

How do you fill in the joint Form 1040?

Check married filing jointly and the nonresident spouse box, then report both spouses' worldwide income. Lines are from the 2026 draft Form 1040 and 2025 instructions; recheck them on the final form.

1. Filing Status: married filing jointly. Leave your spouse's SSN space blank if they are applying for a new ITIN. For a renewal, enter the ITIN: a renewal goes with the return "on which the ITIN is listed" (Form W-7 instructions).
2. Other Information: check "If treating a nonresident alien or dual-status alien spouse as a U.S. resident for the entire tax year" and enter your spouse's name.
3. The draft asks both of you a work authorization question. Its instructions are unpublished, so ask a preparer how to answer for your spouse.
4. Your W-2 box 1 goes on line 1a, interest on line 2b. Your spouse's pay is wages on line 1 (Form 2555 instructions); ask your preparer which sub-line.
5. 2025 Form 2555, line 45 goes on Schedule 1, line 8d, as a negative number (also line 8d on the 2026 draft Schedule 1). Line 16 then uses the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet.
6. Attach one Form 8938 if your specified foreign financial assets passed $100,000 at year end or $150,000 at any time (Treas. Reg. 1.6038D-2). If either of you qualifies as living abroad, the limits are $400,000 and $600,000. Ask a preparer whether your spouse's foreign assets count and which limits apply.

What goes in the choice statement?

In the first year of the choice only, attach a statement signed by both of you. It holds a declaration and each spouse's name, address and taxpayer identification number (Publication 519).

Example wording (an illustration, not an IRS form):

Tax year 2026. On December 31, 2026, Kiran Iyer was a nonresident alien and Sai Iyer was a US resident alien. We choose to be treated as US residents for the entire tax year. Sai Iyer, (US address), SSN (number). Kiran Iyer, (address abroad), ITIN (number). (Signatures of both spouses.)

If the ITIN is pending, ask your preparer what to write; the IRS writes the assigned ITIN on the return (IRS).

How do you sign, assemble and mail the return?

Both of you generally sign the paper return by hand. With Form W-7, it goes to the IRS ITIN Operation in Austin by Thursday, April 15, 2027.

1. On paper, each of you must handwrite your signature: "Digital, electronic, or typed-font signatures are not valid" (2025 Form 1040 instructions). Publication 501 says to sign and "send it to your spouse to sign"; your spouse also signs the statement and Form W-7.
2. Someone else can sign for a spouse continuously absent from the US for at least 60 days before the due date, but only with a power of attorney, such as Form 2848, attached (Form 2848 instructions). For you as their agent, those instructions require lines 1 to 3, the line 4 box and the line 5a "Sign a return" box. On line 5a your spouse writes the statement the instructions give, naming "continuous absence from the United States" as the reason.
3. Put Form W-7 on the front. Attach your W-2s to Form 1040 and the schedules and forms behind it in order of the "Attachment Sequence No." at their top right. Attach the signed statement to the return too; the IRS texts do not say where in it.
4. Mail it with the passport or certified copy to Internal Revenue Service, ITIN Operation, P.O. Box 149342, Austin, TX 78714-9342, not to the Form 1040 address. A Certifying Acceptance Agent can mail the package for you instead (IRS).
5. If your spouse already has a valid ITIN, skip Form W-7 and use the "Where Do You File?" table in the 2026 Form 1040 instructions. In the 2025 table, a return with Form 2555 used the foreign-address row, not your state's row.

What happens after you mail it?

With Form W-7, the IRS assigns the ITIN, then processes the return. Allow 7 weeks, or 9 to 11 weeks from January 15 to April 30 or from overseas (IRS).

1. Notice CP565 assigns the ITIN: check the name and date of birth, and keep a copy (IRS). Documents come back within 60 days.
2. A mailed return's refund takes "6 or more weeks" from receipt (IRS). With Form W-7, expect it later: the IRS processes the return only after it assigns the ITIN (Form W-7 instructions).
3. If your foreign accounts together were over $10,000 at any time in 2026, file the FBAR online by April 15, 2027, extended automatically to October 15 (IRS; FBAR guide). A joint account counts at full value, and the choice does not make your spouse a US person for it (IRM 4.26.16). If your residency started after January 1, 2026 (step 1, item 2), ask a preparer whether your months before it count.

What happens in 2027, and how do you end the choice?

The choice continues each later year that either of you is a US resident, whether you file jointly or separately. Either of you can revoke it, and then neither of you can ever make it again (IRS).

1. On a later joint return, check the box and enter your spouse's name; you both still report worldwide income.
2. The choice is suspended in a year neither of you is a US citizen or resident at any time. A legal separation also ends it.
3. To revoke, one of you signs a statement declaring the revocation, with each spouse's name, address and TIN and any community property states or countries where either of you is domiciled or has income-producing real property.
4. Attach it to the revoking spouse's return for the first year revoked, by that year's due date. With no return, send it to the IRS center of your last joint return (Publication 519).

What to do next

1. Check whether you made the choice earlier and whether it is still in effect.
2. Ask a preparer who works with nonresident spouses to compare joint and separate returns, and whether to amend 2025.
3. Send the papers to your spouse to sign; mail them by Thursday, April 15, 2027. If they cannot be ready, file Form 4868 by then and pay the tax you expect to owe (Form W-7 instructions, 2025 Form 1040 instructions). It moves the filing deadline, not the payment deadline, to Friday, October 15, 2027.