贡献一帖关于F1转H1B利用first year choice退回5000刀实例

michellewu

先介绍一下大概情况：
本人2013年10月转成H1B身份，先生是在读PHD，F1身份。如果2013年一年以non-resident 报税我将欠政府500刀税。而作first-year choice了之后政府却要refund给我5000块。

如何实施：
首先，在每年四月前填写Form 4868表格申请extension并按照自己是non-resident来做税，如果做出欠政府税，就必须要先缴纳这一部分欠税（务必要缴纳，否则会产生利息）。将表格与欠税一并寄到指定的地方，这个地方和平时寄1040的地方不一样，地址都在4868后面。交4868的时候是不需要附带1040表格的。夫妻双方要单独寄。比如我就是欠政府500刀，要寄到某个地方，我先生不欠，要寄到另一个地方。成功寄出后，你会发现政府很快就划走了那一部分钱。这也间接证明extension生效了。那么你2013年的deadline就被延到了2014年10月15日。

然后，根据first year choice的规定：（可自行查询p519）
First-Year Choice
If you do not meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for 2012 or 2013 and you did not choose to be treated as a resident for part of 2012, but you meet the substantial presence test for 2014, you can choose to be treated as a U.S. resident for part of 2013. To make this choice, you must:
Be present in the United States for at least 31 days in a row in 2013, 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 2013. 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.
When counting the days of presence in (1) and (2) above, do not count the days you were in the United States under any of the exceptions discussed earlier under Days of Presence in the United States.
If you make the first-year choice, your residency starting date for 2013 is the first day of the earliest 31-day period (described in (1) above) that you use to qualify for the choice. You are treated as a U.S. resident for the rest of the year. If you are present for more than one 31-day period and you satisfy condition (2) above for each of those periods, your residency starting date is the first day of the first 31-day period. If you are present for more than one 31-day period but you satisfy condition (2) above only for a later 31-day period, your residency starting date is the first day of the later 31-day period.

一旦符合上述条件那么就可以做first year choice的声明：
Statement required to make the first-year choice for 2013.   You must attach a statement to Form 1040 to make the first-year choice for 2013. The statement must contain your name and address and specify the following.
That you are making the first-year choice for 2013.
That you were not a resident in 2012.
That you are a resident under the substantial presence test in 2014.
The number of days of presence in the United States during 2014.
The date or dates of your 31-day period of presence and the period of continuous presence in the United States during 2013.
The date or dates of absence from the United States during 2013 that you are treating as days of presence.

但是这个声明只是针对我个人的，如果只做这个我和我先生还是不能联合报税。按照规定：
Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident
If, at the end of your tax year, you are married and one spouse is a U.S. citizen or a resident alien and the other spouse is a nonresident alien, you can choose to treat the nonresident spouse as a U.S. resident. This includes situations in which one spouse is a nonresident alien at the beginning of the tax year, but a resident alien at the end of the year, and the other spouse is a nonresident alien at the end of the year.

所以针对我先生也要有一份声明，声明需要满足：
How To Make the Choice
Attach a statement, signed by both spouses, to your joint return for the first tax year for which the choice applies. It should contain the following information.
A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other spouse a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of your tax year, and that you choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year.
The name, address, and identification number of each spouse. (If one spouse died, include the name and address of the person making the choice for the deceased spouse.)

符合条件并作了这两份声明之后，我和我先生就可以在2013年全年被当作residents来联合报税了。
这里需要强调的是，一旦声明了是resident以后，双方都不可以享受5000免税之类的任何treaty了。
最后就是填写1040表格报税了。我先生由于在2013年还交了部分学费， 大概2400块，这部分按照resident的规定也可以抵税。所以就做了Form 8917，把这一部分钱也抵掉了。
我现在已经拿到政府退税了。所以分享经验给大家。

caiwade

楼主自己查的？厉害。我之前有朋友找H&R Block报税他们根本不知道这个直接就做了resident。
H1B生效的同学们都可以来看看。

michellewu

caiwade 发表于 2014-10-13 14:11
楼主自己查的？厉害。我之前有朋友找H&R Block报税他们根本不知道这个直接就做了resident。
H1B生效的同学 ...

是啊，自己查的。hr block根本不管用，去找过她们，白交了钱还告诉我必须报non-resident。后来自己下了p519研究了一个周末，发现这种情况只能这样做，直接做resident也不合规定，害怕绿卡时候有麻烦。本科在国内学过会计，所以税都自己报的。当时在网上找也没发现有谁分享的，所以就觉得有必要把这个贴出来跟大家分享一下。做的有理有据，省得以后麻烦不是。

usnma

预估的时候不用按照nr的，只要之后做ra的时候不欠钱就不会产生利息

FABLIFE_FOREVER

多谢

pass-by

usnma 发表于 2014-10-13 17:25
预估的时候不用按照nr的，只要之后做ra的时候不欠钱就不会产生利息

所以，这是第一年用的，过了第一年的都不行？

usnma

pass-by 发表于 2014-10-13 20:56
所以，这是第一年用的，过了第一年的都不行？

第二年开始就必须是按照ra报税咯

Queenie的小生活

维尼

谢谢分享呢！我和老公都来美国超过5年了，不知道可以不可以了

dealsboy

楼主的意思是做成resident报税的话，各种学费什么所抵扣的税额，比treaty那5000抵的更多，所以政府会退你$5000?

如果上面问题回答是的话，下一个问题就是怎么情况下，resident可以退税5000？举个例子我学习学习哈。谢谢

caiwade

dealsboy 发表于 2014-10-14 07:23
楼主的意思是做成resident报税的话，各种学费什么所抵扣的税额，比treaty那5000抵的更多，所以政府会退你$5 ...

nonresident没有standard deduction，这一点resident就好点，尤其是能夫妻一起报的话。报resident treaty就不能用了。楼主夫妻平时的W2应该有withholding，应该都退了回来，5000差不多，如果是低收入还有earned income credit，能返不少。

michellewu

pass-by 发表于 2014-10-13 18:56
所以，这是第一年用的，过了第一年的都不行？

对，第二年就已经是resident了，不牵扯。
不过你还可以amend之前的税， 把第一年的税退回来。有个时间期限，好像是三年，有需要可以具体查查。

michellewu

维尼 发表于 2014-10-14 01:54
谢谢分享呢！我和老公都来美国超过5年了，不知道可以不可以了

可以啊，超过五年的F1就视作resident好像。自己多留点心仔细查查。

caiwade

维尼 发表于 2014-10-14 01:54
谢谢分享呢！我和老公都来美国超过5年了，不知道可以不可以了

超过五年，一般来说应该报resident了。

caiwade

michellewu 发表于 2014-10-14 08:25
对，第二年就已经是resident了，不牵扯。
不过你还可以amend之前的税， 把第一年的税退回来。有个时间期 ...

是三年的status of limitation。