Am I eligible to file Form 1040 this year?

[draughtsurvive]

I came to the US on August 19, 2014 and have not left since. I was initially an F1 student and then got my OPT and OPT STEM extension to work in the US.

On January 28, 2018, my status changed from F1 to H1B due to which I had to file as a dual resident alien for the tax year 2018. I continued working with my H1B so I wanted to confirm if I can file Form 1040 this year instead of 1040-NR?

I calculated my eligibility using the Substantial Presence Test  -

2019 - 365 days

2018 - 112 days (1/3rd of 337 days; Exempt individual - 28 days - F1 visa)

2017 - 0 days (Exempt individual - F1 visa)

So for the past 3 years, I have 477 days which satisfies the 183 days during the 3 years stay in the US requirement for being a resident alien.

Am I missing anything? Can I go ahead and use TurboTax to file my taxes (1040/1040-EZ)?

[LinaJ2020 · Accepted solution]

If you have stayed with the United States for more than 183 days in the year 2019, you are considered as a resident for tax purposes.  Thus, you can file with TurboTax for 2019. 

You did a great job analyzing your days for your SPT calculations.  However, the IRS doesn't count those days when you were on the F-visa because you are considered exempt from counting days.  

[draughtsurvive]

Thank you for my answering question. I just started filing my returns with TurboTax but had a followup question as to whether this answer applies to North Carolina state taxes too. Can I file my NC tax returns as a resident alien using TurboTax? Thanks.

[KarenJ2]

If you lived and worked in North Carolina for all of 2019, you would file a resident NC tax return and you can do that in TurboTax.