Hi, can i use turbotax to generate Form 1040NR-EZ and Form 8843?

[ningxinli]

I was working under F-1 between Jan 1st to Sep 30, then my visa status changed to H1B from Oct 1.

[LinaJ2018]

When did you first enter US on the F-visa ?

[ningxinli]

August 31st, 2013

[LinaJ2018]

Please see answer below

[LinaJ2018 · Accepted solution]

As a F-1 visa holder, you are considered as "exempt" meaning not counting days for five years starting from the date of your first arrival in the United States.  After the five years period, you will start counting days by using the Substantial Presence Test SPT to see if you qualify to be treated as a US resident for tax purposes.

In default, you are considered as nonresident for the tax year of 2016. As TurboTax does not support the Form 1040-NR, you are advised to use our partner, Sprintax to complete your filing.

However, you do have another option.  As you changed to H-1 visa in October 2016, if you anticipated you will be staying in US for at least 183 days or meet the SPT in 2017, you can make an election of First Year Choice to be treated as a resident from October 1st till December 31, to make yourself a dual status alien.  ( January-September, nonresident reporting only US source income and October- December, resident reporting worldwide income)

See FirstYearChoice- Residency Starting Date under the First-Year Choice

For more information about filing as a dual status, see 

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040nr/ch01.html#d0e1027 

under What and Where To File for a Dual-Status Year

[ningxinli]

Got it. Thank you!