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egaurav22
Returning Member

H4 to F1, OPT tax filing

My wife entered from India to US in 2013 on H4 visa and converted to F1 student change of status couple of years back. Now she is working on OPT and we are confused as to whether she should file as a resident or non resident. She is on F1 so we see that as a non resident but there is a 5 year rule that I can read on IRS website. If she was earlier on H4, does the 5 year rule still counts ? 

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2 Replies
pk
Level 15
Level 15

H4 to F1, OPT tax filing

@egaurav22 , your wife came in on dependent visa ( H-4) and so her status would be same as  yours.  However once she changed to F-1 , she is on an independent status  and files as  married on form 1040-NR ( not supported by TurboTax ) and  essentially treated as single for tax purposes.  You file using your H- 1 visa as married filing separate and form 1040 ( supported by TurboTax). She has five years of exmption from counting days present from the  time of change of status ( 2015? ) i.e. by the end of 2019 she starts counting days towards  Substantial Presence  Test.

 

So how did you file your 2016, 2017, 2018 returns ?

 

Namaste ji

egaurav22
Returning Member

H4 to F1, OPT tax filing

Thank you for your reply.

Her change on status to F1 happened in middle of 2018.

Prior to that she was on H1 as my dependent and not working so filed jointly before that.

Even in 2018, she was on F1 half year, but still not working so filed jointly with me as resident and my dependent.

Now in 2019 she graduated in May and has started working from July 1st.

So her 5 year substantial presence would start from 2019 end or middle of 2018 (when she changed status) ?

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