Nonresident Alien Tax Questions for H1B

[hemendrac]

Hi,

I came to US from India in October of 2002 on H1B as Software consultant. My wife and son have come with me and have been with me since then. I was also in the US for 4 months in 2001. I am a citizen of India.

I have a few questions with regard to my tax filing for 2002.

(1)By definition I am guessing that my status is that of nonresident alien. Is this correct ?

(2)Do I have a choice of filing my return as a resident alien instead of nonresident alien ?

(3)For the first year of entry into the US is it better to file as nonresident alien or resident alien ?

(4)As a nonresident alien, can I claim standard deduction ?

(5)Are there any benefits to filing as nonresident alien instead of resident alien ? for e.g. will I incur tax on my Indian income prior to coming to the US if I file as resident alien ?

(6)As a nonresident alien, can I claim exemption for my wife and son ?

(7)Are there any CPAs/tax firms that specialize in nonresident alien H1B filing ? Or do you know of accountant who is an expert at this ?

(8) In general is there any value in going with an accountant ?

Lot of question. Please help.

Regards,
Hemen

[Murali]

You can file yourslef, use online tax tool, like Turbo Tax kind of tool to estimate your tax.
Since you came in Oct 2002, baed on your earnings in 2002, I guess there will be nothing that you owe as a TAX. So if your inceom is less then the minimum income you can file the form "EZ" 1040EZ and 540EZ.
Please do some home work and read all this, then it will be more easy for you to get the answer.

Note: its not a legal advice.