Tax return for resident alien left US in the middle of the year

[sudimax]

Hi, I came to the US with a J1 visa on September-01-2018. My residency status change date is January-1-2020 (the third calendar year of my J1 visa). I left the US and went to my home country by July-15-2020 (while being a resident alien). I did not earn any money when I was in my home country during July-Dec of 2020. Now I am back in the US as a student with an F1 visa from January-2021. 

While I am filing tax returns for 2020. Can I file as a resident alien (1040) only or I need to do it as a dual-status resident (both 1040 and 1040NR)?

I see posts recommending 1040 only. So I am a bit confused. 

[pk]

@sudimax , since  for 2020 you passed the Substantial Presence Test, before  leaving the states  and you had no income  for the rest of the year, the easiest path would be  to file a form 1040 on a short  year --  I am assuming here that you had ZERO income from the USA while you were gone ( expiry of your visa at departure ).  TurboTax can be sued to file  form 1040 as a resident for the year.

For 2021, since you are not an exempt  any more , you would be  counting  days present towards SPT 

[sudimax]

Thank you @pk ! IRS issued a refund. I assume I did correct (only 1040).

[vmpas]

Hi, I'm in a similar situation. I was in the US on a J-1 visa from October 2019 to September 2021. After that I moved to a foreign country and worked there through the end of 2021. For 2021 I passed the substantial presence test and therefore I'm considered a resident alien for tax purposes. I understand I have to file Form 1040 for the time I was resident in the US (January 1 to September 30 2021). I will also have to attache a Residence Termination Statement to establish that after I left the US on September 30 I have closer connections to a foreign country and I'm not a resident alien anymore. 

I think so far this is correct. Now, after reading other posts I find 2 different options for my time being outside the US in 2021 and I'm confused about which one is correct. 

Option 1: File as dual status. Since I was a non-resident after September 30, I also need to file Form 1040NR and attach Form 1040 to it. I don't have any US income for that time, so I will fill out $0 income in the 1040NR. Consequently, I can't use the standard deductions in Form 1040. 

Option 2: Because I don't have any US income for my time as a non-resident after September 30, I don't need to file Form 1040NR. I can file only Form 1040 and use standard deductions for the time I was a resident. That's also what @pk suggested to do. 

Can someone please tell which of these options is correct? As far as I see it, I can choose either of them, with the difference being whether I can use standard deductions or not, but that seems odd. 

[LoganathanB]

You need to file as a dual-status taxpayer Option 1

You gave up residence in the United States during the year and who is not a U.S. resident on the last day of the tax year.

Write "Dual-Status Return" across the top of the return. Attach a statement to your return to show the income for the part of the year you are a resident.

You can use Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return as the statement, but be sure to write "Dual-Status Statement" across the top.

Click on the link for more information.

Dual Status