F-1 student Am I a Resident Alien? Do I have to count years when I was a middle and high school student?

[ahnjoe94]

Hello,

I have been studying in US as a F-1 student since 2008 as a middle school student and I entered college in 2012 and except for 1 semester in 2015 (Jan to May), I was out of US and went back to Korea from mid 2013 to mid 2017 which is 3 years. Am I a Resident Alien for tax reporting this year? In this case, do I have to use Turbotax instead of GTP? I am curious if I need to count the years I studied in US as middle school and high school student. 

Thank you very much

[monaLisa_smirk]

Hello. I'm definitely not a specialist in this, and I do not know what "GTP" stands for in your question, *BUT* I can say that based on my read of their policy you DO meet IRS guideline for Resident Alien based on the "Substantial Presence Test".  We don't even need to consider middle/high school.  To paraphrase their guidance, you satisfy the parameters for Resident Alien because:

        * you've been in the US for 31 days this calendar year

        * during the previous two years, you've spent at least 183 days in the US.

Hope that helps!  For reference, please see ( https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc851 ). Good luck.

(PS- TurboTax isn't a requirement for doing your taxes, but I have found it to be helpful.)