leaving the US after expiry of work permit

[Jo79]

My wife and I worked, lived and paid tax in Texas from 2017 to middle 2020 and moved back to our home country when my work permit expired.  We were in the US on a work permit and do not have green cards.  Can I use turbotax to file our taxes for the 6 months in 2020 that we lived in the US and how do I notify the IRS that we should be removed from the system?  We dont plan to move back to the US in the foreseeable future. 

[pk]

@Jo79 , assuming that you were on a visa H-1B  ( work visa) , had SSN, you will need to file form 1040 for the year 2020.  I am assuming here that  the short year  , till your departure, covers all your US based income and that you have had ZERO us sourced income since departing USA.   Form 1040 can indeed be prepared using TurboTax.

On the other hand if you had any US sourced income after your departure then  generally you would have to file file as a dual status  person -- form 1040 covering  world income till the day of departure and thereafter  form 1040-NR covering ONLY US sourced/connected income.  TurboTax does no support  dual status filing  ( it does not support 1040-NR) -- they use  SprinTax for this purpose.  You can also  use the services of  a  tax professional ( even if the person is based in the USA and not  in your home country ), as long as the  person is familar with international tax filing.

Is there more I can do for  you ?    Which country  is your home country?  Did your spouse also work in the USA ?  Is she a resident/citizen of USA ?

[Jo79]

Hi pk

Thanks for your reply. 

So confirm I just buy the normal turbotax package (I usually bought the deluxe version at Costco and filed together as married) which will guide me through filling and submitting form 1040?  We are both Canadians, she did not work while we were in the US and apart from $25 cashback the bank gave me on my credit card (!), we did not earn any US income after we left.

[pk]

@Jo79  that should work ---pk