It depends. If you are a nonresident alien then you only need to file if you have US source taxable income. If there was no distribution from your 401K or HSA then then those items are not income.
Here is a link with more information on nonresident tax filing. Should you have to file it would be using a form 1040NR.
On the other hand if you are a resident (by substantial presence or green card) alien, you file on your worldwide income. So even if you have no US source income you may still need to file if your gross income exceeds the filing threshold for your filing status as listed in Publication 501, Table 1.
Generally,
Single 12,950
Head of Household 19,400
Married Jointly 25,900
Thank you!
Just a follow up, I have not and will not touch the 401K, HSA and IRA given I'm using those for retirement - so no dividends and I have not received any forms from those accounts.
However I also forgot to mention having a basic bank savings/monetary account and credit card in a US Bank. Does that have an impact?
I'm just being overcautious, I wouldn't want to have any trouble when I travel to the US as a tourist.
Thanks again!
From your information you supplied and if you did not receive any interest from your US savings/monetary account, you are not required to file a US nonresident tax return.
@regisbarillas wrote:
Thank you!
Just a follow up, I have not and will not touch the 401K, HSA and IRA given I'm using those for retirement - so no dividends and I have not received any forms from those accounts.
However I also forgot to mention having a basic bank savings/monetary account and credit card in a US Bank. Does that have an impact?
I'm just being overcautious, I wouldn't want to have any trouble when I travel to the US as a tourist.
Thanks again!
Again, if you are not a citizen, not a green card holder, and not a US resident, then you would only be required to report US-source income ("effectively connected"). That would include bank interest, but if this is a simple savings account, the amount may be too little to bother with.
Other things (investments, retirement accounts, credit cards) don't affect anything unless they create effectively connected income.
You can read about effectively connected income here,
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxation-of-nonresident-aliens
Here is the test to see if you are a resident for tax purposes.
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/substantial-presence-test
I will raise one issue--if you ever seek immigration status, one of the questions you will be asekd is "did you pay any taxes you owed?" I don't know if skipping a trivial tax payment on a tiny amount of bank interest would cause problems in the future, I just mention it. You would start by seeing if your income is considered effectively connected.
Turbotax does not prepare non-resident returns, they usually recommend Sprintax.
https://blog.sprintax.com/taxable-income-nonresident-aliens/