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 to see if you qualify to be
treated as a US resident for tax purposes.
In your situation, you are
considered as a nonresident from 2012-2016 filing a Form 1040-NR. Starting
from 01/01/2017, you will start counting your days. If you meet the
Substantial Presence Test in 2017, you will be considered a US resident for tax
purposes and file a Form 1040 for your tax year of 2017.
As TurboTax does not support the Form 1040-NR, you are
advised to use our partner, Sprintax to complete your filing.
If you have already filed, you would need to do an amendment.
To amend from Form 1040 to 1040NR,
here are the steps:
-If you are considered as a nonresident, as TurboTax
does not support the NR form, you are recommended to use our affiliated
partner, Sprintax to complete your 1040-NR filing.
1. Download the Form 1040-X from IRS website ( see
below). On the front page of Form 1040-X, enter your name,
current address,
and social security number (SSN) or IRS individual taxpayer identification
number (ITIN)
2. Do not enter any other information on page 1.
3. Do not complete Parts I or II on page 2 of Form
1040X.
4. Enter in Part III the reason why you are
filing Form 1040X.
5. Complete a new or corrected form 1040-NR by using
Sprintax, see above.
6. Across the top of the 1040-NR, write “Amended”
7. Attach form 1040-X to the back of Form 1040X
For more information, see:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf - form
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040x.pdf - instructions
page 5 under Residents and Nonresidents
