Substantial Presence Test, Calculation

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
August 8, 2020
1 reply
0 views

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 ?

mhaseebmlk

Level 2

@pk12_2 does the exemption from counting days for SPT apply even if you switched over to an H1B? For example, if you entered on an F1 in 2017, but then switched over to H1B in 2020, would you file as a non resident for 2020 even if you met the SPT had you counted the days in 2020 that you were on H1B ? Or are you exempt from SPT till 2022 (2017 + 5 years) and would therefore file as NR till 2022 as long as you're a non-immigrant?

pk_

Level 15

@mhaseebmlk , the exempt from counting days present applies ONLY for the visa under which it was granted -- thus for F-1 ( and the dependent visas for that F-1) the five Calendar years , are valid ONLY as long as person meets the requirements of the visa. So in your particular case , the exempt status was valid Jan 1st 2017 through the last full day before your visa was changed to H-1B. From that day on-wards you would be counting all full days present towards SPT.

Does this answer your query and/or can I do more for you ?