Hi,

I was a student in 2004 and 2005 with no income. At that time, I was unaware of filing this form even though you have no income.

I might need them for my record now. Can I file them now? Is there any downside to that? My income started in 2006 and from that time, I am filing taxes regularly.

File them. There IS an annual requirement to file to maintain your F-1 status, but there is NO stated penalty for failure to file that I can find.

Better LATE than NEVER!

Thank You for the information. So I will down load the 2004 and 2005 year form from the IRS website and submitting them. Correct?

That is correct. When you submit Form 8843 by itself, you need to print off TWO pages and sign the second page.

Then mail them to the IRS Center in Austin, Texas. You can get the exact address from the instructions for the 2009 version of Form 8843.