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
What visa were you on in 2016 ? When did you first enter US with that visa ?
Hi, thank you for your response! My visa in 2016 was F1. The first time I entered US with that visa was on September 2012.
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
Thank you for your answer! I am sorry that I still have a few more questions:
The first is: do I need to send the 1040NR and 1040x forms to IRS through regular mail?
The second is: are these the only forms I need to complete? Do I also have to make any corrections to the state tax return? I am in California.
Also, is it possible that I can simply complete a new set of tax return with Sprintax rather than make the amendment? Thank you!!