I was on J1 visa from 2013-2014 and F1 from 2015-present, since which calendar year am I a resident alien?

[CharlotteC]

My J1 starts July. 2013 to July2014, F1 from July. 2015 to July 2020. My F1 is now expired but I continue as a PhD student and will be reporting my tax for the very first time. I would like to know how is the 5-year exemption works, and starting from which calendar year should I be considered as a resident alien.

I have received foreign gifts excessed $100,000 in some years, I suppose that I will only need to file Form 3520 for the years that I am a resident alien?

Thanks in advance for the reply!

[DaveF1006]

It depends. According to the information in this link, years 2014-2019 are exempt years because of your J-1/F-1 status. Year 2020 is not exempt because you no longer retain your F-1 status. 

Assuming your F1 visa expired on July 1, 2020, there are 184 days used to meet the substantial presence test to file as a resident alien. However if your F1 visa expired on July 4, then your days are less than the 183-day threshold and you will be ineligible to file as a resident alien. 

At this point, you may ask why you can't use years prior to 2020 toward the substantial presence test? According to irs.gov, you are not permitted to count days for which you are an exempt individual. This is not permitted within IRS guidelines. 

Regarding form 3520, you are only required to fill out this form if you are a US person. Since a resident alien qualifies to be a US person, you will need to complete this form for year 2020. Here is a helpful IRS link, that explains the process in detail and includes the mailing address where to mail this form. Here is a copy of the form to download and mail. According to the instructions in the link, this must be mailed in by 04/15 of this year.