I am an Indian citizen, have been in US since Aug 2011. For 2014 tax year, I was on OPT from Jan 2014 to Sep 2014 (9 Months) and H1B from Oct 2014 to Dec 2014 (3 months). I was wondering if I could claim $6,200 as my standard deduction under U.S India Income tax treaty?? I used Glacier tax to file my tax returns yesterday, and it did a itemized deduction of my state and local income taxes which is way less (around 50% less than what I could get from standard). I read a couple of similar questions and altantataxexpert answered that people can use standard deduction in those cases, not sure which is correct (any valid reference to it would be of a great help). There has been a lot of confusion and discussion about this, but I need a definitive answer. I really appreciate your help. Man! This dual status tax year has been a nightmare.

Assuming you are not married, you will file Forms 1040NR-EZ and 8843 one last time, and, yes, you CAN claim the standard deduction as allowed under Article 21(2) of the U,S.-India Tax Treaty. This is permitted because you spent most of the year in F-1 visa status.

Thank you atlantataxexpert. Yes I am not married, I forgot to mention that I was in India for a month (Nov 21 2014 to Dec 26 2014) to get my H1B stamping done. Is that gonna change anything? I am still eligible for standard deduction under US-India tax treaty?

No, that changes nothing, and you are still eligible to claim the $6,200 standard deduction.