Alien Tax status

[trivedi-CPA]

I have a work visa taxpayer who lived in US until October 2020; spouse and US born children living outside US for all of 2020.  Prior 4 years all lving in US and filing as residents.  Taxpayer and family will not be returning to US for next few years at least. For 2020 Should I file MFJ return as if all were residents?  Would taxpayer be considered Dual-Status alien? What, if any other considerations or impacts should I be making?

Thank you for any direction.

[qbteachmt]

IRS Interactive Tax Assistant, lower down has an International section:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita

[trivedi-CPA]

Thank you for sharing the Interactive Tax Assistant.  My question still remains unclear as the assistant does not specifically address the issue. 

While the assistant helps with the determination of "foreign persons" my challenge is that the TP is resident for tax purposes for 2020 and the Spouse is not based on substantial presence test. Children are US born citizens and everyone has SSNs. Trying to file MFJ.

[sjrcpa]

This is much more complicated than you'll be able to work through here with volunteer strangers on the internet..

Consider:

Type of visa.

Why did taxpayer leave the country?

If they file MFJ spouse has to pay US tax on her worldwide income.

Consult IRS Publication 519 US Tax Guider for Aliens