Resident alien or nonresident alien?

The rules behind each status

The two tests

• If you are not a US citizen, the US treats you as a nonresident alien unless you meet one of exactly two tests for the calendar year: the green card test or the substantial presence test. IRC 7701(b)(1)(A) and (b)(1)(B)
• You are a resident for US tax purposes for any calendar year in which you are a lawful permanent resident at any time. You generally have that status once USCIS has issued you a Form I-551 Permanent Resident Card, the green card. IRC 7701(b)(1)(A)(i)
• The second test is the substantial presence test, a day count run over the current year and the two years before it. Its arithmetic, its day-counting exceptions and its exempt individual categories are set out on its own page and are not restated here. IRC 7701(b)(3)

Keeping or giving up a green card

• Green card status continues for tax purposes until it is taken away or is administratively or judicially determined to have been abandoned. That means you voluntarily renounce and abandon it in writing to USCIS, USCIS administratively terminates it, or a US federal court terminates it. Simply leaving the country, or holding a card more than 10 years old, does not end it. IRC 7701(b)(6)(A) and (B); Pub. 519 chapter 1, Resident status abandoned
• If you start the abandonment yourself, your resident status is treated as abandoned when you file Form I-407 or a letter of intent to abandon, with the green card attached, with USCIS or a US consular officer. Pub. 519 tells you to send it by certified mail with return receipt requested, and warns that until you have proof the filing was received you remain a resident alien for tax purposes. Pub. 519 chapter 1, Resident status abandoned
• To use a residency termination date earlier than December 31 you must file a signed statement, under penalties of perjury, attached to your return, giving your last day of presence, the date the green card was abandoned or rescinded, and facts establishing your foreign tax home and closer connection. If you do not file it you cannot claim the closer connection, unless you can show by clear and convincing evidence that you took reasonable steps to learn of and comply with the requirement. Treas. Reg. 301.7701(b)-8(a)(2) and (b)(2); Pub. 519 chapter 1

When residency starts and ends

• If you meet the green card test but not the substantial presence test for the year, residency starts on the first day in that calendar year on which you are present in the United States as a lawful permanent resident. If you received the green card abroad, it is your first day of physical presence in the United States after receiving it. If you meet both tests, residency starts on the earlier of the two starting dates. IRC 7701(b)(2)(A); Treas. Reg. 301.7701(b)-4(a); Pub. 519 chapter 1, First Year of Residency
• Pub. 519 gives a residency ending date earlier than December 31 only where you were a US resident this year and are not a US resident during any part of next year. Under the green card test that earlier date is the first day in the year on which you are no longer a lawful permanent resident, and you can use it only if for the rest of the year your tax home was in a foreign country and you had a closer connection to it. If you met both tests, the date is the later of the green card date and your last day of presence. Otherwise residency runs to December 31. IRC 7701(b)(2)(B); Treas. Reg. 301.7701(b)-4(b); Pub. 519 chapter 1, Last Year of Residency

What each status is taxed on

• A resident alien is taxed the same way as a US citizen: worldwide income from all sources is subject to US tax at graduated rates and is reported on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. The same filing statuses and the same deductions are available. IRC 1; Pub. 519 chapter 4, Resident Aliens
• A nonresident alien is taxed only on income effectively connected with a US trade or business, at the same graduated rates as citizens and after allowable deductions, and on US source fixed, determinable, annual, or periodical income, which is taxed on the gross amount with no deductions allowed. Both are reported on Form 1040-NR, the second on Schedule NEC. IRC 871(a) and 871(b)
• US source fixed, determinable, annual, or periodical income of a nonresident alien that is not effectively connected with a US trade or business is taxed at a flat 30 percent on the gross amount, generally collected by withholding at the source by the payer, unless a tax treaty with the payee's country of residence sets a lower rate. IRC 871(a)(1); IRC 1441(a)

Filing as a nonresident

• A nonresident alien engaged, or considered engaged, in a trade or business in the United States during the year must file Form 1040-NR even if no income came from that business, there is no US source income at all, or the income is exempt from tax. A nonresident not engaged in a US trade or business files if US income remains on which the tax was not satisfied by withholding at the source. Pub. 519 chapter 7 then sets out three narrow exceptions to the first rule, listed in the gotchas below. Treas. Reg. 1.6012-1(b); Pub. 519 chapter 7, Nonresident Aliens
• A nonresident alien who is an employee receiving wages subject to US income tax withholding, or who has an office or place of business in the United States, files by the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends. Everyone else files by the 15th day of the 6th month. The regulation draws the line only at wages subject to withholding; the IRS page adds the office or place of business. Treas. Reg. 1.6072-1(c); Pub. 519 chapter 7, When To File
• Nonresident aliens cannot claim the standard deduction. Itemized deductions are claimed on Schedule A (Form 1040-NR) and are generally allowed only if you have income effectively connected with a US trade or business. The one exception is narrow: a student or business apprentice eligible for Article 21(2) of the United States-India income tax treaty may claim the standard deduction, provided they do not claim itemized deductions. IRC 63(c)(6)(B); Pub. 519 chapter 5, Standard deduction
• Form 1040-NR gives an individual only three filing statuses: single, married filing separately, and qualifying surviving spouse. Head of household is not available to a nonresident alien at all, and a joint return is not available while either spouse is a nonresident alien unless the couple makes one of the two elections to treat the nonresident as a resident, which moves them onto a joint Form 1040 rather than Form 1040-NR. Separately, some married nonresidents who have a child, live apart from their spouse and meet five tests in the Form 1040-NR instructions may check the single box. IRC 6013(a)(1); IRC 2(b)(3); Form 1040-NR instructions, Filing Status and 2025 Tax Table Exception 1

A year you switch: dual status

• A dual-status tax year is a year in which you were both a resident alien and a nonresident alien. It normally happens in the year you arrive in or depart from the United States. Different rules apply to each part of the year: worldwide income for the resident part, and only effectively connected income plus the flat rate on other US source income for the nonresident part, with no deductions against that flat-rate income. Pub. 519 chapter 6, Introduction and How To Figure Your Tax
• Which return you file depends on your status on the last day of the year. A resident on that day files Form 1040 or 1040-SR as the Dual Status Return, with a Form 1040-NR attached as the Dual Status Statement. A nonresident on that day files Form 1040-NR as the Dual Status Return, with a Form 1040 or 1040-SR attached as the statement. The Form 1040-NR instructions say to write those labels across the top and not to sign the attached statement; Pub. 519 for 2025 says to check the new Other checkbox at the top of the return and write the label on the entry line. Pub. 519 chapter 6, Forms To File; Form 1040-NR instructions, What and Where To File for a Dual-Status Year
• A dual-status filer cannot use the standard deduction, although allowable deductions can be itemized; cannot use the head of household tax table column; and cannot file a joint return unless the choosing resident alien status election or the nonresident spouse election applies. A married dual-status filer who does not file jointly must use the married filing separately rates, unless they lived apart from their spouse for the last 6 months of the year and are a married resident of Canada, Mexico or South Korea or a married US national, in which case they may be able to file as single. Pub. 519 chapter 6, Restrictions for Dual-Status Taxpayers

Elections that make you a resident on purpose

• The first-year choice lets someone who meets neither test for the current year or the prior year, and did not choose resident treatment for part of the prior year, be treated as a US resident for part of the current year, provided they meet the substantial presence test in the following year. The result is a dual-status year, not a full resident year. IRC 7701(b)(4)(A)(i), (ii) and (iii)
• To make the first-year choice you must be present in the United States for at least 31 days in a row in the current year. Residency then starts on the first day of the earliest 31-day period you actually use to qualify: if you satisfy the 75 percent test for more than one such period, it is the first of them, and if you satisfy it only for a later period, it is the first day of that later period. IRC 7701(b)(4)(A)(iv)(I) and 7701(b)(4)(C); Treas. Reg. 301.7701(b)-4(c)(3)(ii)
• You must also be present for at least 75 percent of the days from the first day of that 31-day period through December 31 of the current year, treating up to 5 days of absence as days of presence. The 5-day allowance applies only to this 75 percent test: the regulation says those days are not treated as days of presence for the 31 consecutive day requirement. IRC 7701(b)(4)(A)(iv)(II); Treas. Reg. 301.7701(b)-4(c)(3)(ii)
• When you count days for either the 31 day requirement or the 75 percent requirement, you do not count days you were in the United States as an exempt individual or under any of the other day-counting exceptions. Those exceptions are the ones used for the substantial presence test and are set out on that page. IRC 7701(b)(4)(D); Pub. 519 chapter 1, First-Year Choice
• You cannot file the return or the first-year choice statement until you have met the substantial presence test for the following year, so an extension on Form 4868 is often needed, with payment of the tax you expect to owe figured as if you were a nonresident for the whole year. Once made, the choice cannot be revoked without IRS approval. IRC 7701(b)(4)(E) and (F); Pub. 519 chapter 1, First-Year Choice
• A dual-status alien can elect to be treated as a US resident for the whole year if they were a nonresident at the start of the year, are a resident or citizen at the end of it, are married to a US citizen or resident at the end of it, and the spouse joins in the choice. Both are then taxed on worldwide income, must file jointly for that year, and neither can make the choice again in a later year. A single person cannot make it, and making it lifts the dual-status restrictions in Pub. 519 chapter 6. IRC 6013(h)(1) and (h)(2); Pub. 519 chapter 1, Choosing Resident Alien Status
• If at the end of the tax year one spouse is a US citizen or resident and the other is a nonresident alien, they can elect to treat the nonresident spouse as a US resident by attaching a statement signed by both to a joint return. Both then report worldwide income for that year and all later years the choice is in effect, and neither can then claim under any tax treaty not to be a US resident. The Form 1040-NR instructions add that making the election may forfeit other benefits a treaty would otherwise give. IRC 6013(g)(1), (2) and (3); Pub. 519 chapter 1, Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident
• The election is suspended for any later year in which neither spouse is a US citizen or resident. It ends permanently on revocation by either spouse by that year's filing due date, on the death of a spouse, on legal separation under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance, or when the IRS ends it for inadequate records. Once it has ended in any of those ways, neither spouse can ever make the choice again. IRC 6013(g)(3), (4), (5) and (6); Pub. 519 chapter 1, Suspending the Choice and Ending the Choice

When a treaty overrides all of this

• Meeting the green card test does not settle the question if a tax treaty applies. Pub. 519 says that someone who claims foreign residency under a treaty tiebreaker rule is treated as a nonresident for purposes of their tax liability. The statute goes further: a lawful permanent resident ceases to be treated as one if they begin to be treated as a resident of the treaty country, do not waive the treaty benefits available to residents of that country, and notify the IRS, which the IRS says is done on Forms 8833 and 8854. IRC 7701(b)(6), concluding sentence, which Pub. 519 cites as section 7701(b)(6)(B); IRC 6114

What people get wrong about alien tax status

• A green card holder who moves abroad is still a US resident for tax purposes, taxed on worldwide income and filing Form 1040, until the status is formally renounced in writing to USCIS or terminated administratively or judicially. Leaving the country, letting the card expire, or holding a card more than 10 years old does not end it. IRS source
• The rules for filing and paying are the same whether a US citizen or resident alien lives in the United States or abroad: worldwide income from all sources is taxable, and benefits such as the foreign earned income exclusion and the foreign tax credit only apply if a US return is filed. IRS source
• Under US immigration law a lawful permanent resident who is required to file a US return as a resident and fails to do so may be regarded as having abandoned status, and may lose the green card itself. IRS source
• Giving up a green card is not always a clean exit. Someone who was a lawful permanent resident for at least 8 of the last 15 tax years is a long-term resident and can be subject to the expatriation tax and to Form 8854 reporting. Claiming foreign residency under a treaty tiebreaker counts as ceasing to be a lawful permanent resident, so it can start the same machinery. IRS source
• A dual-status year is not the same as a half-price year. You lose the standard deduction entirely, you cannot use head of household rates, and you cannot file jointly unless one of the two elections applies, which often leaves a dual-status filer paying more than a full-year resident on the same income. IRS source
• A dual-status filer also loses several credits outright. Pub. 519 says you cannot claim the education credits, the earned income credit, or the credit for the elderly or the disabled unless you are married and elect to be treated as a resident for the whole year on a joint return with a US citizen or resident spouse. IRS source
• Electing to treat a nonresident spouse as a US resident puts that spouse's worldwide income into the US tax net for that year and every later year the choice stays in effect, not just for the year it saves tax. IRS source
• Residency does not automatically restart at zero. If you were a US resident during any part of the preceding calendar year and are a resident for any part of the current year, you are treated as a US resident from January 1 of the current year. IRS source
• On the flat 30 percent tax no deductions are allowed at all: it applies to the gross amount of the US source fixed or determinable income, which is why a treaty rate is worth checking before assuming the withholding was correct. IRS source
• Not every withholding rate on a nonresident is 30 percent. The taxable part of a scholarship or fellowship grant paid to a nonresident student or scholar temporarily in the United States on an F, J, M or Q visa is withheld at 14 percent, or a lower treaty rate, and is reported on Form 1042-S. IRS source
• The rule that a nonresident engaged in a US trade or business must file regardless of income has three narrow exceptions in Pub. 519 chapter 7: a student, teacher or trainee temporarily present on an F, J, M or Q visa with no income subject to tax; an India treaty student or business apprentice who is single or a qualifying surviving spouse and whose gross income is at or below a dollar threshold set for the year; and a partner in a US partnership not engaged in a US trade or business whose Schedule K-1 shows only income that is not effectively connected. IRS source
• Filing late can cost a nonresident their deductions and credits outright, not just interest. To get the benefit of allowable deductions or credits you must file a true and accurate return, and for this purpose a return is timely only if it is filed within 16 months of the due date. IRS source
• The first-year choice is not the same as the election for a nonresident spouse. Pub. 519 states plainly that you do not have to be married to make the first-year choice, while the two elections that produce a full resident year both require a spouse who is a US citizen or resident. IRS source

Which forms does this involve?

If the answer is not the one you want

Three routes change the outcome, and they are not interchangeable:

• The closer connection exception keeps you a nonresident despite the day count, if you were here fewer than 183 days and kept a tax home and closer ties abroad. It is US domestic law, claimed on Form 8840, and it is closed to anyone who holds a green card, has applied for one, or has taken an affirmative step toward one.
• A tax treaty tie-breaker can treat you as a resident of the other country even after you meet a US test. Claimed on Form 8833 with a Form 1040-NR, and it carries consequences for a long-term green card holder that the closer connection exception does not.
• The elections above, including the first-year choice and the choice to treat a nonresident spouse as a resident, work the other way: they make someone a resident on purpose, usually to file jointly.