Shashank Sabniveesu

e-filing for F-1 students in 2019

Note: I hold no verifiable credentials to advise you on this kind of work at the time of writing this

  1. TurboTax, as a software, cannot generate 1040NR

Source:

What if I am a US nonresident living, studying, and/or working in the US?

This year, TurboTax has partnered with Sprintax.com to provide a secure, easy-to-use online service to help you file your 1040NR tax forms and get your taxes done right. Please visit Sprintax.com for more information.

(https://turbotax.intuit.com/best-tax-software/common-questions.jsp)

  1. Sprintax, as a software, doesn’t e-file. It requires you to print and mail forms as paper - similar to Glacier tax prep software

Please see the infographics on home page at https://www.sprintax.com/non-resident-alien-tax-1040nr-turbotax.html

  1. The below page claims that the inability to e-file Form 1040NR was a deficiency on the part of IRS but only until 2017

Source:

https://j1taxrefund.com/en/electronically-filing-form-1040nr/

  1. Additionally, the tax-treaty claim that F-1 students from India typically use to claim “standard Deduction” despite being non-resident filers is a point of interest here. The above referenced website claims that the e-file system of IRS doesn’t support this. Note that this page is referring to situation in 2017

References: “Article 21” at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/india.pdf

  1. As seen today (March 7 2019), website of IRS claims it supports 1040NR generation[1] with tax-treaty claims[2] handled duly

[1]: Section “Instructions for Form 1040NR - Introductory Material” at https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040nr [2]: https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040nr#idm140249108109472

Unresolved questions:

  1. We know that “US-India Treaty (Article 21) allows F-1 students from India to claim standard deduction on 1040-NR” and “Turbotax generated Form 1040 which has to filed only by a resident (not F-1 students) allows one to take a standard deduction”.

    Is there still any advantage (getting more refund etc.) that filers are taking by using TurboTax instead of simply claiming treaty exemption on a 1040NR?