Contributed by: Henry FreeTaxUSA Agent, Tax Pro
If you are a nonresident and have U.S. source income subject to tax, you probably need to file a U.S. tax return. This includes students, teachers, researchers, and trainees who are temporarily in the U.S. on F, J, M, or Q visas. Nonresidents generally file Form 1040-NR and are only required to report their U.S. source income.
Can I file Form 1040-NR with FreeTaxUSA?
No. Currently our software doesn’t support nonresident returns (Form 1040-NR). If you’re a nonresident, you’ll need to find another way to file.
You can view a list of our supported forms.
What if you’re a resident and your spouse is a nonresident?
According to the IRS, if your spouse is a nonresident alien, you have three options when you file your taxes:
1. Married Filing Jointly with a nonresident spouse:
- If using this filing status, you should include all your spouse's income from the U.S. and foreign sources. The income will be subject to U.S. tax. However, you may be able to claim a credit for taxes your spouse paid on their foreign income.
- You'll need to apply for an SSN or ITIN for your spouse to use this option.
2. Married Filing Separately with a nonresident spouse:
- If you choose Married Filing Separately as your filing status, you don’t have to treat your spouse as a resident for tax purposes or include their income on your return. However, you’ll have a lower standard deduction and may not be able to claim other tax benefits.
- You don’t need to apply for an SSN or ITIN for your spouse. You should write "NRA” (which stands for nonresident alien) in the entry space below the filing status checkboxes before filing your return.
3. Filing as Head of Household:
- Married taxpayers generally choose between Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately, but a taxpayer whose spouse is a nonresident alien may file using Head of Household status. Filing as Head of Household can give you benefits such as a greater potential refund. However, you must have another qualifying person to be eligible; your spouse doesn’t count.
- Go to this IRS link to determine if you’re eligible to use the Head of Household filing status.
Our software is limited when it comes to nonresident tax situations.
- If you don’t have an SSN or ITIN for your spouse, the software only supports option 3 (filing as Head of Household). You won't be able to enter your spouse's information in our software without an SSN or ITIN if you want to pursue option 1 or option 2.
- For option 1, we don’t support reporting foreign earned income or the foreign earned income exclusion on Form 2555. We do support claiming the foreign tax credit or deduction for interest, dividend, partnership, Scorp, estate or trust income, but not for wages.
- We don’t have a way in the software to add "NRA” in the entry space below the filing status checkboxes if you choose option 2.
- Due to security concerns, we don’t support the filing of returns if you are outside of the U.S. at the time of filing.
