Anyone with advice on filing taxes after changing the status to H1B from F1??
I was a F1 untill 2005 Sept. Since Oct I am under H1B.
How have you guys been filing taxes underthose circustances?
Do you file regular 1040? or 1040 NR?? Do you file two forms with porportion of income??

any experience??

The fact is "when I applied for green card last year, I had to submit three years of tax documents to USCIS". I used to be mad at the International Education office for those years I filed 1040 NR EZ. However, the day I received a letter from USCIS asking for tax papers, I sighed in relief. I filed for green card while I was still in F1.

This may not apply to you. For example, you might be on H1B for four years before you apply for green card. In that case if USCIS asks you only for the last three years of tax return, you will be fine. You calculate the risk by yourself.

Yeap,
Filing tax are important guys, specially applying for GC.
Usally for tax matters, they go back upto 3 yrs only. thats what i read when I took my tax classes.

Well,
Harris.. u seem to be the GURU on this,
could you tell me where to get info about what type of deduction i am eligible for..
1. i have moving expense,
2. my part of healtcare cost (my co. matches protion of it but i have the significant contribution)
3. I have undocumentated charitable contribution. (sending money to nepal ;) hehehe JK)
4. I have some student loan from College.
5. I have rental thingy..
6. Umm I have other insurance.. car.. dental.. etc.. that is not covered by my employer and i am liable 100%.
7. There was a theft incident which was more than 2% of my income for the year of 2005.

.. Umm
in addition, i have done quite a bit of business travel around us. I worked in MD, for about 4 weeks.
in NJ for about 4 weeks.
and about a week in Hartford, CT.
Do I need to file taxes in those states as well???
I am sure I would need for MD but not sure about NJ and CT.

Pls Advise..

start filing 1040 AR.

u r paying taxes just like an american. 1040 EZ is for a single person.

Any Tax gurus in DC/MD/VA area - I need to do my tax ASAP.

In case of working one week in each state, look at the instructions of 1040 form for each state. Unless you are filing as Nonresident tax alien in all states, you must file as resident in one of the states. To find out whether you need to file in other states or not, look at the threshold income level in each state.

If your paycheck comes from the same parent company for all those states you worked for (such as a single W2 form at the end of the year), I guess, you don't need to file separately in multiple states.

SO Harris Does it mean Residency Test is not applicable to Student under 5 years stay in US...............I am confused after I went thorugh the IRS link mentioned above.

Nepal_ko_lato,

Yes, the residency test doesn't apply to F1 student for five years.

I don't have time to explore it further, however, I have heard unconfirmed information that a Nepali student had a back-n-forth case with IRS in filing 1040 (resident) after two years. I will get in tough with that gentleman when I have time.

For J1 visa holders, the 'exempt individual' clause is removed after two years.

This one is pretty much informative:
- http://www.payroll.ucla.edu/alien/b1taxres.asp

Harris that would be really great!

I have similar conundrum:

I had filled tax returns for the years 2003 and 2004 through local tax filling agents and so to speak I did not pay much attention on which forms were used to file tax return. The truth is that i was not much aware of or serious about the tax before than now, thanks to Sajha, chiefly, Harris to wake me up! To my surprise, when i checked back with them i discovered that they have considered me as US citizen/GC and filed 1040 EZ for the year 2004 (don't remember the form that they used for the year 2003). Now i came to know that with F-1 visa i am supposed to file either 1040 NR or NR EZ but not 1040 EZ. Obviously i don't want to repeat the same mistake that was done by the tax filling agents. Though i am still not sure 1040 NR or EZ is the most appropriate form in my case (I am always in F-1 status, came to US at the end of Dec, 2002 and have never left US since then).

Now, some of my dilemmas to share with Harris and other Sajhaties are-

Is there any way to rectify that part of mistakes done by those agents? Or more precisely, is it safe to file 1040 NR or NR EZ without mentioning to IRS that I filed 1040 EZ the pervious year? This is because 1040 NR EZ (which I think is most likely the form that I am supposed to use this year) requires me to answer date of my entry to US and latest year and form number that I used to file income tax return any year before 2005.

Any suggestions to this riddle will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Option 1: Continue to file 1040, which is not advisable for F1 students. If you apply for green card 4-5 years later with 3-4 years of H1B status, probably that's not going to hurt you.

Option 2: Correct the mistake by filing form 1040X for each years you filed federal and state tax returns. You need to create new 1040NREZ, tally it with your old 1040 and pay the difference. You must have received all the refunds on your federal tax return. It hurts to return about 80% of those two years liabilities plus interests.

You have 3 years to file tax ammendments from the date of filing. You have another 2 years to pray for yourself that IRS doesn't find your mistakes. After five years of filing date, you will not probably chased by IRS for whatever mistakes you made.

Thanks a lot Harris for such a prompt and valuable response!

“You have another 2 years to pray for yourself that IRS doesn't find your mistakes”

Could you elaborate on the risk factor if they don’t fail to find the mistakes! I have very likely condition as u have elucidated in Option 1 but again calculating risk to benefit would be wiser since I think I did not pocket more than $1200 from both the years including federal and state returns. That means option 2 may not be a bad idea and still remains as a potential option, not to reject outright.

Once again thank you very much Harris for your generosity in providing worthy suggestions.

Nut, I don't exactly know what the risks are. A tax fraud will be taken as serious crime and is enough to give trouble of life time (may be $$$ in fines and some time in jail). However, if didn't get noticed for five years, IRS is probably not coming behind you any more. There are so many big fish in the ocean.

You can send me an email and can discuss next week. I am little bit constrained with time as I have to submit my dissertation next week. Sajha is very addictive... just can't stop looking for few threads a day.

Harris,
You seem to know a lot about this. What document do we submit if someone asks for the proof that we filed taxes for the past few years?
Thanks!

okey here it goes,

if you qualify presense test for last 3 years. then you can file 1040. no problem. even as a F1 you can file 1040. NO NEED TO PANIC.

about moving expense. YOUR JOB has to HAVE MOVED @ least 50 miles from your current residence and work place and you have spent @ least 6 months in the NEW JOB to take the MOVING EXPENSE deduction. Provided that all your W2 has been issued from different EMPLOYERS @ different LOCATION. So, CONSULTING AGENCY really screw one in this (O:

HEALTH expense/insurance is DEDUCTIBLE upto 2% of your INCOME.
GIFT of upto $250 without RECEIPT can be claimed.

But if you are filing 1040.. I feel that its better to take STANDARD deduction. rarely does ITEMIZED DEDUCTION will exceed that[i.e. STD. DEDUCTION] ... as long as you do not have a MORTGAGES, REAL STATE TAXES and PROPERTY TAXES.

naake,

you can call IRS and get copy of your tax return. They will send it to you.

OR, BY LAW You are required to have COPIES OF YOUR TAX RETURN FOR LAST 5 YEARS [ for personal] and 7 YEARS [ for business]. This is for the purpose that if you are audited then you have your stuff to prove what you have written.

sorry harris (O: .. apologize for me for butting in (O:
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as always (O:
what do i know (O:

felicity,
1040 EZ can be USED FOR SINGLE AND
MARRIED FILING JOINTLY.

it is NOT FOR MARRIED FILING SEPARATELY and
HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD.

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as always
what do i know (O:

Thapap, glad to see you here ... You saved my day :-)

Here is a bit of relief information. The penalties seem not so severe if not filed properly.

Penalties for Non Compliance
Penalties for non-compliance with the filing requirement can include:

Future requests for change of status (especially to permanent resident) will be denied;
Visa renewals at American Consulates/Embassies could be denied;
Fines and interest will be assessed when money is owed to the IRS. If more than 16 months late in filing the form, no deductions can be claimed; and
If more than 3 years late in filing and a refund was due, no refund will be given.

More at the following link:
- http://web.usf.edu/iac/isss/tax.html

Harris..
Questions for u again!!
As discussed. I am going to file 1040 NR. however, I am still not certain how to devide my income or report the taxes. Coz till Oct 05 I was technically student so didnt had to pay SS or Med Care taxes. However, starting Oct '05, I started paying all the taxes.
So, in 1040NR, do i need to document change of status was made? if so where.. or is there any additional form that I may have to fill?
I have never received any Tax retrun, instead I owed them. I really hope I get some this year.. hopefully then I can afford a nicer car ;) else.. Jai Sambo.. Paisaa kaam bho!

Thank you Harris! and Good Luck for your dissertation work.

BOND_007

you need not file any documents for the SS and/or Medicare payment.
your W2 has all the information.

combine all the income BOX 1 of W2 's (O:

if you pass substantial presense test you can file 1040. You need not panic.
its all your choice what you want to file. 1040 or 1040NR.
You can file 1040NR as long as you want. Its all your choice.

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anywhooooo
as always what do i know (O: