Publication 519 |
2000 Tax Year |
Dual-Status Aliens
You can be both a nonresident alien and a resident alien during the
same tax year. This usually occurs in the year you arrive in or depart
from the United States. Aliens who have dual status should see chapter 6
for information on filing a return for a dual-status tax year.
First Year of Residency
If you are a U.S. resident for the calendar year, but you were not
a U.S. resident at any time during the preceding calendar year, you
are a U.S. resident only for the part of the calendar year that begins
on the residency starting date. You are a nonresident alien
for the part of the year before that date.
Residency starting date under substantial presence test.
If you meet the substantial presence test for a calendar year, your
residency starting date is generally the first day you are
present in the United States during that calendar year. However, you
do not have to count up to 10 days of actual presence in the United
States if on those days you establish that:
- You had a closer connection to a foreign country than to the
United States, and
- Your tax home was in that foreign country.
See Closer Connection to a Foreign Country, earlier.
In determining whether you can exclude up to 10 days, the following
rules apply.
- You can exclude days from more than one period of presence
as long as the total days in all periods are not more than 10.
- You cannot exclude any days in a period of consecutive days
of presence if all the days in that period cannot be excluded.
- Although you can exclude up to 10 days of presence in
determining your residency starting date, you must include those days
when determining whether you meet the substantial presence
test.
Example.
Ivan Ivanovich is a citizen of Russia. He came to the United States
for the first time on January 6, 2000, to attend a business meeting
and returned to Russia on January 10, 2000. His tax home remained in
Russia. On March 1, 2000, he moved to the United States and resided
here for the rest of the year. Ivan is able to establish a closer
connection to Russia for the period January 6-10. Thus, his
residency starting date is March 1.
Statement required to exclude up to 10 days of presence.
You must file a statement with the IRS if you are excluding up to
10 days of presence in the United States for purposes of your
residency starting date. You must sign and date this statement and
include a declaration that it is made under penalties of perjury. The
statement must contain the following information (as applicable).
- Your name, address, U.S. taxpayer identification number (if
any), and U.S. visa number (if any).
- Your passport number and the name of the country that issued
your passport.
- The tax year for which the statement applies.
- The first day that you were present in the United States
during the year.
- The dates of the days you are excluding in figuring your
first day of residency.
- Sufficient facts to establish that you have maintained your
tax home in and a closer connection to a foreign country during the
period you are excluding.
Attach the required statement to your income tax return. If you are
not required to file a return, send the statement to the Internal
Revenue Service Center, Philadelphia, PA 19255, on or before the due
date for filing an income tax return. The due date for filing is
discussed in chapter 7.
If you do not file the required statement as explained above, you
cannot claim that you have a closer connection to a foreign country or
countries. Therefore, your first day of residency will be the first
day you are present in the United States. This does not apply if you
can show by clear and convincing evidence that you took reasonable
actions to become aware of the requirements for filing the statement
and significant steps to comply with those requirements.
Residency starting date under green card test.
If you meet the green card test at any time during a calendar year,
but do not meet the substantial presence test for that year, your
residency starting date is the first day in the calendar
year on which you are present in the United States as a lawful
permanent resident.
If you meet both the substantial presence test and the
green card test, your residency starting date is the earlier of the
first day during the year you are present in the United States under
the substantial presence test or as a lawful permanent resident.
Residency during the preceding year.
If you were a U.S. resident during any part of the preceding
calendar year and you are a U.S. resident for any part of the current
year, you will be considered a U.S. resident at the beginning of the
current year. This applies whether you are a resident under the
substantial presence test or green card test.
Example.
Robert Bach is a citizen of Switzerland. He came to the United
States as a U.S. resident for the first time on May 1, 1999, and
remained until November 5, 1999, when he returned to Switzerland.
Robert came back to the United States on March 5, 2000, as a lawful
permanent resident and still resides here. In calendar year 2000,
Robert's U.S. residency is deemed to begin on January 1, 2000, because
he qualified as a resident in calendar year 1999.
First-Year Choice
If you do not meet either the green card test or the
substantial presence test for 1999 or 2000 and you did not choose to
be treated as a resident for part of 1999, but you meet the
substantial presence test for 2001, you can choose to be treated as a
U.S. resident for part of 2000. To make this choice, you must:
- Be present in the United States for at least 31 days in a
row in 2000, and
- Be present in the United States for at least 75% of the
number of days beginning with the first day of the 31-day period and
ending with the last day of 2000. For purposes of this 75%
requirement, you can treat up to 5 days of absence from the United
States as days of presence in the United States.
When counting the days of presence in (1) and (2) above, do not
count the days you were in the United States under any of the
exceptions discussed, earlier, under Days of Presence in the
United States.
If you make the first-year choice, your residency starting date for
2000 is the first day of the earliest 31-day period (described in (1)
above) that you use to qualify for the choice. You are treated as a
U.S. resident for the rest of the year. If you are present for more
than one 31-day period and you satisfy condition (2) above for each of
those periods, your residency starting date is the first day of the
first 31-day period. If you are present for more than one 31-day
period but you satisfy condition (2) above only for a later 31-day
period, your residency starting date is the first day of the later
31-day period.
Example 1.
Juan DaSilva is a citizen of the Philippines. He came to the United
States for the first time on November 1, 2000, and was here on 31
consecutive days (from November 1 through December 1, 2000). Juan
returned to the Philippines on December 1 and came back to the United
States on December 17, 2000. He stayed in the United States for the
rest of the year. During 2001, Juan was a resident of the United
States under the substantial presence test. Juan can make the
first-year choice for 2000 because he was in the United States in 2000
for a period of 31 days in a row (November 1 through December 1) and
for at least 75% of the days following (and including) the first day
of his 31-day period (46 total days of presence in the United States
divided by 61 days in the period from November 1 through December 31
equals 75.4%). If Juan makes the first-year choice, his residency
starting date will be November 1, 2000.
Example 2.
The facts are the same as in Example 1, except that Juan
was also absent from the United States on December 24, 25, 29, 30, and
31. He can make the first-year choice for 2000 because up to 5 days of
absence are considered days of presence for purposes of the 75%
requirement.
Statement required to make the first-year choice.
You must attach a statement to Form 1040 to make the first-year
choice. The statement must contain your name and address and specify
the following:
- That you are making the first-year choice,
- That you were not a resident in 1999,
- That you are a resident under the substantial presence test
in 2001,
- The number of days of presence in the United States during
2001,
- The date or dates of your 31-day period of presence and the
period of continuous presence in the United States during 2000, and
- The date or dates of absence from the United States during
2000 that you are treating as days of presence.
You cannot file Form 1040 or the statement until you meet the
substantial presence test for 2001. If you have not met the test for
2001 as of April 16, 2001, you can request an extension of time for
filing your 2000 Form 1040 until a reasonable period after you have
met that test. To request an extension to file, use Form 4868,
Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S.
Individual Income Tax Return. You should pay with this form the
amount of tax you expect to owe for 2000 figured as if you were a
nonresident alien the entire year. You can use Form 1040NR or Form
1040NR-EZ to figure the tax. Enter the tax on Form 4868. If you
do not pay the tax due, you will be charged interest on any tax not
paid by the regular due date of your return, and you may be charged a
penalty on the late payment. If you pay the tax due by credit card,
you do not file Form 4868. See the form instructions for information
on paying by credit card. If you need more time after filing Form
4868, file Form 2688, Application for Additional Extension of
Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
Once you make the first-year choice, you may not revoke it without
the approval of the Internal Revenue Service.
If you do not follow the procedures discussed here for making the
first-year choice, you will be treated as a nonresident alien for all
of 2000. However, this does not apply if you can show by clear and
convincing evidence that you took reasonable actions to become aware
of the filing procedures and significant steps to comply with the
procedures.
Choosing Resident Alien Status
If you are a dual-status alien, you can choose to be treated as a
U.S. resident for the entire year if:
- You were a nonresident alien at the beginning of the year,
- You are a resident alien or U.S. citizen at the end of the
year,
- You are married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the
end of the year, and
- Your spouse joins you in making the choice.
This includes situations in which both you and your spouse were
nonresident aliens at the beginning of the tax year and both of you
are resident aliens at the end of the tax year.
If you make this choice, the following rules apply.
- You and your spouse are treated as U.S. residents for the
entire year for income tax purposes.
- You and your spouse are taxed on worldwide income.
- You and your spouse must file a joint return for
the year of the choice.
- Neither you nor your spouse can make this choice for any
later tax year, even if you are separated, divorced, or
remarried.
- The special instructions and restrictions for dual-status
taxpayers in chapter 6
do not apply to you.
Note.
A similar choice is available if, at the end of the tax year, one
spouse is a nonresident alien and the other spouse is a U.S. citizen
or resident. See Nonresident Alien Spouse Treated as a Resident,
later. If you previously made that choice and it is still in
effect, you do not need to make the choice explained here.
Making the choice.
You should attach a statement signed by both spouses to your joint
return for the year of the choice. The statement must contain the
following information.
- A declaration that you both qualify to make the choice and
that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax
year.
- The name, address, and taxpayer identification number (SSN
or ITIN) of each spouse. (If one spouse died, include the name and
address of the person who makes the choice for the deceased spouse.)
You generally make this choice when you file your joint return.
However, you also can make the choice by filing Form 1040X. Attach
Form 1040, Form 1040A, or Form 1040EZ and print "Amended" across
the top of the corrected return. If you make the choice with an
amended return, you and your spouse must also amend any returns that
you may have filed after the year for which you made the choice.
You generally must file the amended joint return within 3 years
from the date you filed your original U.S. income tax return or 2
years from the date you paid your income tax for that year, whichever
is later.
Last Year of Residency
If you were a U.S. resident in 2000 but are not a U.S. resident
during any part of 2001, you cease to be a U.S. resident on your
residency termination date. Your residency termination date
is December 31, 2000, unless you qualify for an earlier date as
discussed next.
Earlier residency termination date.
You may qualify for a residency termination date that is earlier
than December 31. This date is:
- The last day in 2000 that you are physically present in the
United States, if you met the substantial presence test,
- The first day in 2000 that you are no longer a lawful
permanent resident of the United States, if you met the green card
test, or
- The later of (1) or (2), if you met both tests.
You can use this date only if, for the remainder of 2000, your
tax home was in a foreign country and you had a closer connection to
that foreign country. See Closer Connection to a Foreign Country,
earlier.
A long-term resident who ceases to be a lawful permanent resident
may be subject to special reporting requirements and tax provisions.
See Expatriation Tax in chapter 4.
De minimis presence.
If you are a U.S. resident because of the substantial presence test
and you qualify to use the earlier residency termination date, you can
exclude up to 10 days of actual presence in the United States in
determining your residency termination date. In determining whether
you can exclude up to 10 days, the following rules apply.
- You can exclude days from more than one period of presence
as long as the total days in all periods are not more than 10.
- You cannot exclude any days in a period of consecutive days
of presence if all the days in that period cannot be excluded.
- Although you can exclude up to 10 days of presence in
determining your residency termination date, you must include those
days when determining whether you meet the substantial presence test.
Example.
Lola Bovary is a citizen of Malta. She came to the United States
for the first time on March 1, 2000, and resided here until August 25,
2000. On December 12, 2000, Lola came to the United States for
vacation and stayed here until December 16, 2000, when she returned to
Malta. She is able to establish a closer connection to Malta for the
period December 12-16. Lola is not a U.S. resident for tax
purposes during 2001 and can establish a closer connection to Malta
for the rest of calendar year 2000. Lola is a U.S. resident under the
substantial presence test for 2000 because she was present in the
United States for 183 days (178 days for the period March 1 to August
25 plus 5 days in December). Lola's residency termination date is
August 25, 2000.
Residency during the next year.
If you are a U.S. resident during any part of 2001 and you are a
resident during any part of 2000, you will be taxed as a resident
through the end of 2000. This applies whether you have a closer
connection to a foreign country than the United States during 2000,
and whether you are a resident under the substantial presence test or
green card test.
Statement required to establish your residency termination
date.
You must file a statement with the IRS to establish your residency
termination date. You must sign and date this statement and include a
declaration that it is made under penalties of perjury. The statement
must contain the following information (as applicable).
- Your name, address, U.S. taxpayer identification number (if
any), and U.S. visa number (if any).
- Your passport number and the name of the country that issued
your passport.
- The tax year for which the statement applies.
- The last day that you were present in the United States
during the year.
- Sufficient facts to establish you have maintained your tax
home in and that you have a closer connection to a foreign country
following your last day of presence in the United States during the
year or following the abandonment or rescission of your status as a
lawful permanent resident during the year.
- The date that your status as a lawful permanent resident was
abandoned or rescinded.
- Sufficient facts (including copies of relevant documents) to
establish that your status as a lawful permanent resident has been
abandoned or rescinded.
- If you can exclude days under the de minimis presence rule,
discussed earlier, include the dates of the days you are excluding and
sufficient facts to establish that you have maintained your tax home
in and that you have a closer connection to a foreign country during
the period you are excluding.
Attach the required statement to your income tax return. If you are
not required to file a return, send the statement to the Internal
Revenue Service Center, Philadelphia, PA 19255, on or before the due
date for filing an income tax return. The due date for filing is
discussed in chapter 7.
If you do not file the required statement as explained above, you
cannot claim that you have a closer connection to a foreign country or
countries. This does not apply if you can show by clear and convincing
evidence that you took reasonable actions to become aware of the
requirements for filing the statement and significant steps to comply
with those requirements.
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