Foreign Students and Recent Foreign Graduates: File 1040 or 1040NR?

Dear students and recent graduates on U.S. Immigration status (i.e. F,J, H1B, etc),

Please be careful when filing your U.S. Income tax return, it is highly important that you determine if you need to file a IRS Form 1040 vs IRS Form 1040NR and the accompanied schedules/Forms/Treaty elections that go along with the tax return. Filing the wrong form with the Internal Revenue Service may have an adverse affect due to improper deductions/credits that have been claimed/or not claimed with your return.

Generally, if you are on a F-1 VISA, OPT, and J VISA, you will be considered as a nonresident alien for tax purposes and will file 1040NR but as soon as you convert to a working visa such as H1B and H1B1, then your days start counting towards your substantial presence test.

You will be considered a U.S. resident for tax purposes if you meet the substantial presence test.

To meet this test, you must be physically present in the United States on at least:

1. 31 days during the current year, and
2. 183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before that, counting:
   • All the days you were present in the current year, and
   • 1/3 of the days you were present in the first year before the current year, and
   • 1/6 of the days you were present in the second year before the current year.

Please keep in mind if you are a 1040NR filer, then you can’t file your return electronically! If you have made this mistake, please amend your return as soon as possible so you can be compliant with the United States of America Tax Laws.

Modi CPA is a licensed Certified Public Accounting firm in the state of Texas in The Colony, TX and service clients in the DFW Metroplex area (Dallas, Addison, Lewisville, Plano, Garland, Forth Worth, Arlington, Richardson, McKinney) and throughout the United States. Furthermore, we are also International & Cross-Border Tax accountants whom look at US-Canada Tax Treaty, US-India Tax Treaty, US-Russia Tax Treaty, US-UK Tax Treaty, US-Egypt Tax Treaty, and others.

We are a qualified accounting firm to discuss Domestic, Cross Border Tax issues between multiple countries, and other International tax services to ensure your compliance with the United States’ International tax laws. Do not hesitate to contact our office should you have further questions. Our Phone number is (214)618-0468 and email is ravi@modicpa.com