This page refers to U.S. income taxes and associated filing requirements, not sales tax or other kinds of taxes.
All international students and scholars have a federal tax filing requirement even if you do not have U.S. source income.
Below are a few things you need to know.
ALL of the following individuals who were in the U.S. for any period of time during the calendar year have federal tax filing obligations the following year:
Before you begin your tax return, you will need to determine your tax filing status: nonresident tax filer or resident tax filer.
Important Note:
It is important to file in the correct status. The guidelines below are general guidelines only. To accurately determine your tax filing status, please see the IRS's website or Sprintax's blog page. If you are still not certain, you should create a Sprintax account and Sprintax will ask you a series of questions based on the substantial presence test to determine your residence status for federal tax filing purposes.
Form 8843 is not a U.S. income tax return. It is an informational statement required by the IRS for nonresidents for tax purposes. It should be filled out for every nonresident present in the U.S. for the previous year, including spouses, partners, and children.
If you are a nonresident tax filer, and have NO U.S. source income in 2021 you only need to complete the IRS Form 8843 to fulfill your federal tax filing obligation. Continue reading to find out how you can file this form.
It means you did not receive wages, salary, taxable scholarship or fellowship (i.e. scholarship or fellowship that exceeds the amount of your tuition) from a U.S. institution, organization, or company. Financial support, such as sabbatical salary or a scholarship, from your home country or an organization outside the U.S. is not considered U.S. source income.
You only need to fill out certain parts of Form 8843 depending on your visa status. Read the following sections for information specific to your status.
Important Note: if you are using Sprintax to file your tax return, your Form 8843 will be included in the forms generated for filing so you do not need to file this form separately.
First, obtain Form 8843:
*When filling out the form, use the instructions below to determine which sections you must fill out and which you can leave blank.
Answer each question. Here are tips to help clarify some of the questions:
Skip this section.
Answer each question. Here are tips to help clarify some of the questions:
Skip this section.
Skip this section.
Sign and date on the last line of page 2.
April 18, 2022
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service Center
Austin, TX 73301-0215
The instructions for completing Form 8843 can be found on page 3 and 4 of IRS form 8843. The information above is a simplified version of these instructions.