Substantial Presence Test, Calculation

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
August 8, 2020
1 reply
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Hi all,

I'm an F1 student and first arrived in 2015. I was exempt from the substantial presence test in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. I began counting days toward the test beginning 01/01/2020.

So in 2020, I become a resident for tax puposes (183 days on 07/01/2020). I filed 1040 as a resident in April 2020 for tax year 2019. Is my thinking correct? Or I can only file 1040 in 2021?

Thanks!

Best answer by pk_

@JLK20 since you were admitted to the USA on F-1 ( and assuming that you had no other earlier visits etc. ), you are exempt from counting days for SPT till 12/31/2019. Therefore for the tax year 2019 you are Non-Resident Alien . Thus your return for the year 2019 MUST be filed on form 1040-NR or 1040-NR-EZ ( neither of these forms are supported by TurboTax. Your choices for filing (a) Your school's foreign student office for help; (b) SprinTax, partner of TurboTax or (c) local tax professional familiar with international filing.

For tax year 2020 ( to be filed by April 2021 ), you would probably qualify for the Substantial Presence Test and there may have to file on form 1040 using TurboTax or similar service.

Does this answer your question ?

pk_

Answer

Level 15

For tax year 2020 ( to be filed by April 2021 ), you would probably qualify for the Substantial Presence Test and there may have to file on form 1040 using TurboTax or similar service.

Does this answer your question ?

JLK20Author

Level 2

Hi pk,

Thank you very much for your answer! I got the SPT wrong because I was confused between calendar year and tax year. We file tax for the year before. Although in year 6 I become a resident for tax purposes, I was a non-resident in year 5.

This would be helpful for future readers.

I will amend using 1040-X, include 1040-NR (which my school helps by giving us discount code for Sprintax) and pay the tax due. Thanks again!

pk_

Level 15

@JLK20 you cannot use 1040-X --- you will file a new return using form 1040-NR or 1040-NR-EZ and attach a copy of the 1040 return filed plus a letter explaining that this was an error in filing. This is because a return must be filed using the correct form, otherwise it counts as " not filed". So IRS has to purge the form 1040 from your account. Good Luck