Reporting tax period

[17594354371]

Hi. I arrived from South America at the end of June last year and stayed in the USA so I met the substantial presence test. I was granted with a green card this year. As far as I know my reporting tax period starts on the first day of my arrival. This means that I do not have to take into consideration, for US tax purposes, the income (from salaries and account dividend) before June? 

[pk · Accepted solution]

@17594354371 , based purely on your post, your assumptions are correct i.e.  you file a form 1040 with a residency start date of "date of arrival". Note that you must use itemized deduction because of "short filing year".

If you had any US sourced/ connected income prior to the residency start date, then you have to also file a form 1040-NR ( not supported by TurboTax) . In such a case you have to declare yourself as "Dual Status Filer" and  include this notation on both the 1040-NR and 1040.  It is best filing this by mail.

Is there more I can do for you ?

[17594354371]

Hi. Thank you for your answer. Based on that, it seems that I would have had to file 1040 even if my income was lower than standard deduction. I did not know. I understand that I can ask to be treated as resident for the full year being my first year of residence. In this case my tax would be zero and being late would not be a problem, I think. Any suggestion on how to handle being late for form 8938?. Thank you very much.   

[pk]

@17594354371 ,  since you have passed the Substantial Presence Test and therefore a "Resident for Tax Purposes " for the tax year 2024, you cannot ask to be treated as a resident for the year-- you already are.  This special feature works ONLY for persons not meeting SPT in the current tax year but will meet SPT during the following year ( and they can only request /file  only after the date they meet the SPT).  AS I mentioned  while you are resident for the tax year 2024, the start of residency is the first day you were legally present in the US.  Thus , no matter how you cut it , you still cannot use the standard deduction.

Form 8938 -- Specified Foreign  Financial Asset is filed with your tax return. So  you file it with your return ( due by 10/15/2025

The FBAR form ( form 114 , ONLY on liner filing allowed ) is at www.FinCen.gov and that is generally April 15th. Just go ahead and file that form ASAP. When you go to FinCen.gov,  search for form 114 and it will redirect you to BSA-E-file site where you have to fill out the required information --- bank/financial institution name , address and the max amount for the year 2024. Note that you have to report accounts that you own/operate as also ones over which you have only signature authority ( but is operated by someone else  -- often an account owned by an older relative and you have signature authority in case of emergency ).

Is there more I can do for you ?

[17594354371]

OMG! I am so confused..Then, I need help to fill out asap my tax return. How can I get it before October 15?