Table of Contents
- Part I—Explanation of Status—Resident or Nonresident Alien
- Part II—Exemptions
- Part III—Figuring Your Income Tax
- Signature
- Schedule A—Income
- Schedule B—Certain Gains and Losses From Sales or Exchanges of Nonresidents' Property Not Effectively Connected With a U.S.
Trade or Business
- Schedule C—Itemized Deductions
- Schedule D—Tax Computation
-
The alien and his or her spouse reasonably expect to be eligible to file a joint return at the close of the tax period for which the return is made.
-
If the tax period of the alien is terminated, the tax period of his or her spouse is terminated at the same time.
Note.
An ITIN is for tax use only. It does not entitle you to social security benefits or change your employment or immigration status under U.S. law.
Generally, you are considered a resident alien if you meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for 2008. You are considered a nonresident alien for the year if you do not meet either of these tests. For more information on resident and nonresident alien status, see Pub. 519.
-
31 days during 2008, and
-
183 days during the period 2008, 2007, and 2006, counting all the days of physical presence in 2008, ⅓ of the number of days of presence in 2007, and⅙ of the number of days in 2006.
-
Days you regularly commuted to work in the United States from a residence in Canada or Mexico.
-
Days you were in the United States for less than 24 hours while you were traveling between two places outside the United States.
-
Days you were temporarily present in the United States as a regular member of the crew of a foreign vessel engaged in transportation between the United States and a foreign country or a possession of the United States. This rule does not apply to any day you were otherwise engaged in a trade or business in the United States.
-
Days you intended, but were unable, to leave the United States because of a medical condition or medical problem that arose while you were in the United States.
-
Days you were an exempt individual. In general, an exempt individual is: (a) a foreign- government-related individual, (b) a teacher or trainee, (c) a student, or (d) a professional athlete who is temporarily present in the United States to compete in a charitable sports event.
Note.
If you qualify to exclude days of presence in the United States because you are an exempt individual (other than a foreign-government- related individual) or because of a medical condition or problem, file Form 8843, Statement for Exempt Individuals and Individuals With a Medical Condition, with your final income tax return.
Note.
If you meet this exception, file Form 8840, Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens, with your final income tax return .
Note.
Certain resident aliens who leave the United States during the year with no intent to return may owe tax under section 877. These resident aliens must take into account any amounts due for 2008 under section 877 when completing Form 1040-C. See Expatriation Tax in Pub. 519 for more information .
If you are a resident alien, you can claim the same exemptions allowed U.S. citizens on Form 1040.
If you are a nonresident alien engaged in a trade or business in the United States and you are a U.S. national (American Samoan or a Northern Mariana Islander who chose to be a U.S. national) or a resident of Canada, India, Mexico, or the Republic of Korea (South Korea), you can claim the same number of exemptions you are entitled to on Form 1040NR. All other nonresident aliens engaged in a U.S. trade or business can claim only one exemption. For more details, see Pub. 519 or the Form 1040NR instructions.
If you are a nonresident alien not engaged in a trade or business in the United States, you cannot claim any personal exemptions for income that is not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business.
Read the descriptions on line 1 of Form 1040-C for Groups I, II, and III to see which group(s) applies to you. If Group I or II applies, use lines 15-22 to figure your tax. If Group III applies, use lines 23 and 24 to figure your tax. If you are a nonresident alien to which both Groups II and III apply, use lines 15-24 to figure your tax.
-
Self-employment tax. This tax applies only to resident aliens. Use Schedule SE (Form 1040), Form 1040-PR, or Form 1040-SS to figure your self-employment tax. The self-employment tax rate for 2008 is 15.3%. This includes a 2.9% Medicare tax and a 12.4% social security tax. For 2008, the maximum amount of self-employment income subject to social security tax is $102,000. There is no limit on the amount of self-employment income subject to the Medicare tax.
-
Social security and Medicare tax on tip income not reported to employer. If you received tips of $20 or more in any month and you did not report the full amount to your employer, you must generally pay this tax. See the Form 1040 instructions or the Form 1040NR instructions.
-
Social security and Medicare tax not withheld by employer. If you are an employee who received wages from an employer who did not withhold social security and Medicare tax from your wages, you may owe this tax. See the Form 1040 instructions or the Form 1040NR instructions.
-
Additional tax on IRAs, other qualified retirement plans, etc. If you received a distribution from or made an excess contribution to one of these plans, you may owe this tax. See the Form 1040 instructions or the Form 1040NR instructions.
-
Household employment taxes. If you pay cash wages to any one household employee in 2008, you may owe this tax. See the Form 1040 instructions or the Form 1040NR instructions.
-
Tax on accumulation distribution of trusts. Use Form 4970 to figure the tax.
-
Tax from recapture of investment credit. Use Form 4255 to figure the tax.
-
Tax from recapture of low-income housing credit. Use Form 8611 to figure the tax.
-
Tax from recapture of federal mortgage subsidy. Use Form 8828 to figure the tax.
-
Tax from recapture of qualified electric vehicle credit. For details on how to figure the tax, see Pub. 535, Business Expenses.
-
Earned income credit (EIC). This credit applies only to resident aliens. Enter any EIC that is due to you.
-
Additional child tax credit to which you are entitled.
-
U.S. income tax paid at previous departure during the tax period. Enter any tax you paid if you previously departed the United States during this tax period.
-
Excess social security and RRTA tax withheld. If you had two or more employers in 2008 who together paid you more than $102,000 in wages, too much social security tax and tier 1 railroad retirement (RRTA) tax may have been withheld. See Pub. 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax. For 2008, the maximum social security tax and
tier 1 RRTA tax is $6,324. -
Credit for federal tax paid on fuels. Use Form 4136 to figure the credit.
Form 1040-C is not considered a valid return unless you sign it. You may have an agent in the United States prepare and sign your return if you are sick or otherwise unable to sign. However, you must have IRS approval to use an agent. To obtain approval, file a statement with the IRS office where you file Form 1040-C explaining why you cannot sign.
If an agent (including your spouse) signs for you, your authorization of the signature must be filed with the return.
-
Salaries and wages (generally shown in box 1 of Form W-2),
-
The taxable part of a scholarship or fellowship grant,
-
Business income or loss (income that would be included on Schedule C (Form 1040) or Schedule C-EZ
(Form 1040) as an attachment to Form 1040NR), and -
Any other income considered to be effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. See the Instructions for Form 1040NR for details.
-
Interest, dividends, rents, salaries, wages, premiums, annuities, compensation, remuneration, and other fixed or determinable annual or periodic gains, profits, and income.
-
Prizes, awards, and certain gambling winnings. Proceeds from lotteries, raffles, etc., are gambling winnings. You must report the full amount of your winnings. You cannot offset losses against winnings and report the difference.
-
85% of the U.S. social security benefits you receive. This amount is treated as U.S. source income not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business and is subject to the 30% tax rate, unless exempt or taxed at a reduced rate under a U.S. tax treaty. Social security benefits include any monthly benefit under Title II of the Social Security Act or part of a tier 1 railroad retirement benefit treated as a social security benefit. They do not include any supplemental security income (SSI) payments.
Note.
Do not include on line 5 income reportable in column (f) that is exempt by treaty. Instead report these amounts on line 1 of column (f) and explain on the statement required for Part III, line 24, the basis for the reduced rate or exemption.
-
Interest on bank deposits or withdrawable accounts with savings and loan associations or credit unions that are chartered and supervised under federal or state law, or amounts held by an insurance company under an agreement to pay interest on them, if the income is not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. Certain portfolio interest on obligations issued after July 18, 1984, is also exempt income.
-
Your personal service income if:
-
You were in the United States 90 days or less during the tax year,
-
You received $3,000 or less for your services, and
-
You performed the services as an employee of or under contract with a nonresident alien individual, foreign partnership, or foreign corporation not engaged in a U.S. trade or business; or for a foreign office of a U.S. partnership, corporation, citizen, or resident.
-
-
Capital gains not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business if you were in the United States fewer than 183 days during the tax year. Exception: Gain or loss on the disposition of a U.S. real property interest is not exempt.
-
U.S. bond income. Your income from series E, EE, H, or HH U.S. savings bonds that you bought while a resident of the Ryukyu Islands (including Okinawa) or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Caroline and Marshall Islands).
-
Annuities you received from qualified annuity plans or trusts if both of the following conditions apply:
-
The work that entitles you to the annuity was performed either (1) in the United States for a foreign employer and you met the conditions under 2 earlier, or (2) outside the United States, and
-
When the first amount was paid as an annuity, at least 90% of the employees covered by the plan (or by the plan or plans that included the trust) were U.S. citizens or residents.
-
-
U.S. source dividends paid by certain foreign corporations if they are not effectively connected with your U.S. trade or business. See Second exception under Dividends in chapter 2 of Pub. 519 for the definition of foreign corporation and how to figure the amount of excludable dividends.
If you are a nonresident alien, use Schedule B to figure your gain or loss from the sale or exchange of property not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. Include the following types of income. For more information on these types of income, see Pub. 519 and the Instructions for Form 1040NR.
Note.
The gain or loss on the disposition of a U.S. real property interest is considered effectively connected and should be shown in Schedule A, column (e).
-
Gains on the disposal of timber, coal, or U.S. iron ore with a retained economic interest.
-
Gains from the sale or exchange of patents, copyrights, secret processes and formulas, goodwill, trademarks, trade brands, franchises, and other like property, or of any interest in any such property. The gains must result from payments for the productivity, use, or disposition of the property or interest.
If you are a resident alien, you can take the deductions allowed on Schedule A of Form 1040. See the Schedule A (Form 1040) instructions. Be sure to consider the tax law changes noted on page 1.
If you are a nonresident alien and have income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, you can take the deductions allowed on Schedule A of Form 1040NR. See the Schedule A (Form 1040NR) instructions. If you do not have income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, you cannot take any deductions.
Note.
Residents of India who were students or business apprentices may be able to take the standard deduction. See Pub. 519 for details.
If you do not itemize your deductions, you can take the 2008 standard deduction listed below for your filing status.
Filing
Status |
Standard
Deduction |
|
Married filing jointly or
Qualifying widow(er) |
$10,900* | |
Head of household | $8,000* | |
Single or Married filing separately | $5,450* | |
*To these amounts, add the additional amount shown next. |
Note.
If you were born before January 2, 1944, you are considered to be age 65 or older in 2008.
-
$900, or
-
Your earned income plus $300 (up to the standard deduction amount).
Include in the total on line 6 or line 14, whichever applies, any tax from Form 4972, Tax on Lump-Sum Distributions, Form 8814, Parents' Election To Report Child's Interest and Dividends, and Form 8889, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
Itemized Deduction Worksheet (keep for your records) | |||||
1. | Add the amounts in columns (b) and (d) of Schedule C, line 1. | 1. | |||
2. | Enter the total amount included on line 1 above for medical and dental expenses, investment interest expense, casualty or theft losses of personal use property, casualty and theft losses from income-producing property, and gambling losses | 2. | |||
3. | Subtract line 2 from line 1. If zero or less, stop here; enter the amount from line 1 above on Schedule C, line 2 | 3. | |||
4. | Multiply line 3 above by 80% (.80) | 4. | |||
5. | Enter the amount from Form 1040-C, line 17 | 5. | |||
6. | Enter: $159,950 ($79,975 if married filing separately) | 6. | |||
7. | Subtract line 6 from line 5. If zero or less, stop here; enter the amount from line 1 above on Schedule C, line 2 | 7. | |||
8. | Multiply line 7 above by 3% (.03) | 8. | |||
9. | Enter the smaller of line 4 or line 8 | 9. | |||
10. | Divide line 9 by 1.5 | 10. | |||
11. | Subtract line 10 from line 9 | 11. | |||
12. | Total itemized deductions. Subtract line 11 from line 1. Enter the result here and on Schedule C, line 2 | 12. |
More Online Instructions |