report income in China

[hyc12908]

I am a resident alien with f1 student, now I'm moving back to China and will not return to US recently, my question is:

1. for tax year 2019, can I use turbotax to do the tax report after I get back to China, and what documents will be needed?

2. I will have an income in China, which is salary, so do I have to report this part in the future, and what kind of documents will be provided for this part of income?

3. for how long will my status be considered as resident alien?

[mesquitebean]

You wrote:  "I am a resident alien with f1 student."

I'm going to see if someone familiar with international filing can help you in this thread.

They will likely need more info, such as when did you first come to US, and on what visa?  And when did you become "resident alien" on an F1 visa?   What type of tax return did you file for 2018?

@ pk  Are you able to please assist here when you are next in the forum?   Thanks!

[hyc12908]

first let me thank you so much for your respond, for those informations, I came to the US in 2012 with a F1 visa, and I became a resident alien in 2018, and I also file the tax return as a resident alien for the 2018 tax year

[pk · Accepted solution]

@hyc12908 , having gone through the above , what I get is that  (a) you came to the USA in 2012 under F-1 visa; (b) once the  5 year exemption period was over  , you filed regular 1040 returns for 2017 and 2018 i.e. you were treated as a Resident Alien for tax purposes; (c) you are still on F-1 ;  (d) you plan to return to your home country ( China ) in 2019

The question now is  what are the tax implications when you return to China ?

Assuming that  "became a resident alien "  means  "Resident Alien for Tax purposes "  and not a Green Card holder,   once you leave the USA ( i.e. close out your F-1 visa )  you immediately  become a Non-Resident Alien.  Thereafter your only US tax filing requirement is on US sourced.connected income and at the  Non-Resident flat rate  -- No Social Security and Medicare  contributions for federal purposes  -- ditto for  State purposes.  These filings  will require  1040-NR which is not supported by TurboTax software.

The year of departure -- 2019  would be treated as a dual status  year --- from Jan 1 2019 through the date you terminate your visa ( depart USA ), you are a resident alien for tax purposes and a Non-Resident Alien for the  rest of the year.  Thus  you file a form 1040 using TurboTax  covering  the Resident peirod, print this out , Hand Write on top the first page of form 1040  " Dual Status Filer".  Now  download, print form 1040-NR from   WWW.IRS.GOV , fill out by hand  all  US  sourced/ connected income and deductions etc  Staple the two returns together and  mail to IRS.  This will force  human intervention  and processing.

Note  you will need to provide a US address for this filing ( perhaps a friend's  one  )  and keep your US bank account active till  all this is settled - perhaps  till the end of the first quarter of 2020.

If my assumptions are wrong and you actually are a Green Card holder, then  you are taxed on your world income like a citizen and you file using form 1040 .

Does this help or you need more help?

[hyc12908]

Really appreciate your response, and I have some more questions upon it if you don't mind

1. as you said, I'm the "Resident Alien for Tax purposes", and when I leave the US, I will not have any income here in the US, though I will leaving a bank account open with little money in it, so do I still have to form the 1040-NR form for the rest of the year? If so, for the 1040 form filled with turbotax, can I submit online or do I have to mail it even I don't fill the 1040-nr form?

2. you mentioned about an address in the US and an open bank account, is it ture that these informations are used for the refund as checks and direct deposit?

3. when I move back to china, if I want to report the tax at the end of the year, do I request the income documents, like w2 forms from my employer, which is the university?

finally let me thank you again and you really explained a lot of things which bothers me these days

[pk]

@hyc12908  glad I could help.

1.  If you do not have any income from US , after you leave the USA, then there is no real need to file a  form 1040-NR and therefore  just e-file  the form 1040 , prepared with TurboTax.  However, the suggestion for printing out the 1040, writing "Dual Status Filer", attaching form 1040-NR  even with all zeros, and mailing the whole thing in , is only for purposes of completeness.    If you choose only  to file form 1040 , then you have to make sure that there  is not income from US sources  after you become a Non-Resident Alien ( the day after you leave the country and cancel your F-1 visa).

2. The address in the USA will be used by the IRS / State  to contact you if so required.  The bank account can be used for direct deposit of the  refunds.

3. Since the 2019 forms would not be available  till later in the year, you would have to use TurboTax  for 2019 ( available  around the end of the year) using the W-2  provided your employer ( university ) in January 2020.  So yes you have to request  this be made available to you by mail or on-line  ( most large  institutions  make these available  only on line  ).  You do not have to send a copy of the W-2 to IRS , since  the employer will forward a copy to the IRS anyways.

Good Luck  back home 

Xie Xie

[hyc12908]

it's so kind of you to help me such a lot, really really appreciate, it, and wish that I could help other people with similar issues in the future

 my best wishes