Should I file as resident alien or dual status alien in my situation? I left the US and moved to The Netherlands in March 2018.

[dutch_user]

In 2018 I received income from a US employer (January and February) and I received income from work in The Netherlands. As I understand it I can choose to terminate my residency status on the last day in 2018 I was physically present in the US and then file as dual status alien, effectively excluding my non-US income for US tax purposes. I would not be able to use Turbotax though, but would have to use the Sprintax package which I have never used. I am wondering if I could also file as a resident alien for the entire year, declare my foreign income and deduct foreign taxes using Turbotax. Would Turbotax support that? Am I missing something that could backfire? Income was fairly low for 2018 as I was in between jobs for a couple of months. There are no mortgage, capital gains or any other complicating factors.

[KarenJ]

Yes, you can file a full year resident return with TurboTax with an ending date of 12//31/18. You would need to claim your worldwide income for calendar year 2018 and utilize foreign tax credit to help offset any double taxation.  This will allow you to use the standard deduction. You only would not want to file a full  year return if you sold any real estate property after leaving the US or had large gains from investments.

See page 8 Last Year of Residency for more information. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf