Hello Everyone,

I started my Masters study in US from Fall 2008 and graduated in May 2011. I started working from Oct 2011 on OPT.

For the year 2012, I was on OPT from Jan 1st until Sep. I was present in the US for all my OPT months. My H1B started from Oct1st 2012. I visited India for a good one month from Nov end until Dec end.

So my question is do I qualify for Dual Resident Alien? If yes what forms should I file?

I would appreciate your help.

Thanks,
Saher

You are a non-resident alien for 2012. (It's your 5th calendar year as an international student. The part of the year on F1 therefore is exempt from the SPT.)

You can use First-year choice, if you like, to treat yourself as a resident alien for 2012. To do this you must wait until you meet the SPT in 2013.

Thanks a lot for replying.

Actually around $9000 have been withheld as tax for me for the year 2012. And when I checked turbotax it said that I will receive a refund of only $80. I was hoping I would receive more because for 9 months I was on OPT. There was no option in turbotax to enter information regarding OPT (Also Social Security and Medicare taxes were not deducted during OPT)

I am listing out some more questions for you;

1) I am not familiar about First-year choice. Can you please explain in detail?

2) Also is it beneficial in terms of receiving more refund to use First-year choice or to file tax returns as non-resident?

3) In both cases what forms should I file and what is the procedure?

4) Please correct me if I am wrong here. Will I be considered resident alien if I am present in US for 183 days while on H1B status?

Hope to hear from you.

Filing dual-status versus as a non-resident will be the same tax-wise, so file as a non-resident alien, it is MUCH faster.

If you are MARRIED, you can file jointly with your spouse IF you wait until 1 June 2013 to file (to meet the Substantial Presence Test) and if you BOTH choose to be treated as resident aliens for 2012.

If you believe that you will need professional help filing this year, this IS what I do. Please double-click on my name (Atlanta Tax Expert) above to access my profile. You will find my email address in the signature portion of the profile (scroll down to the BOTTOM of the page).

For 2012, you must meet following requirements on H1-B, before you can meet other requirements for resident status:
*Be present in the United States for at least 31 days in a row in 2012, 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 2012. 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.

I was in the US on OPT from Jan 2012 to Sep end 2012. From Oct 1st my H1b started. I took 28 days as leave from Nov end to Dec end to visit India. So I was on H1B for about 62 days of the year 2012.

My question was would filing as a non-resident give me more refund or waiting to pass SPT and then filing as a non-resident?

Filing as a resident is NOT an option UNLESS YOU ARE MARRIED.

Filing dual-status or non-resident alien is the SAME tax-wise, so file as a non-resident, because you can file IMMEDIATELY.

If you file dual-status, you have to WAIT UNTIL 1 June 2013 to file.