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§00U.S. Tax Residency

When days abroad become a U.S. tax year.

The day count, the days that do not count, and the three ways the result can be overridden. Most people who become U.S. tax residents never moved anywhere.

11 dossiers · View every dossier

Dossiers

№1345m
U.S. Tax Residency

Christmas in Florida: How Holiday Visits Add Up on the Day Count

A three-week visit is 21 days, and days in the current year count at full weight. How a holiday trip turns into U.S. tax residency on worldwide income, and which two exceptions are still open once it has.

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№507m
U.S. Tax Residency

The Closer Connection Exception and Form 8840

A route to stay a non-resident despite meeting the day count, available only under 183 actual days this year, and closed outright by a pending green card application.

Open Dossier
№1089m
U.S. Tax Residency

Days You Could Not Leave

Some days spent in the United States never enter the residency count: a medical condition that arose while present, transit, commuting from Canada or Mexico, and crew days. Each has its own conditions.

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№10710m
U.S. Tax Residency

Leaving the U.S. Tax System

Giving up citizenship or long-term permanent residence can trigger a mark-to-market charge on unrealised gain. The three tests that make someone covered, and the filing that has to happen either way.

Open Dossier
№1069m
U.S. Tax Residency

What a Non-Resident Actually Files

Non-residents file on a different form, under different rules, with income split into two baskets taxed two different ways. What goes where, and the deductions that are simply unavailable.

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№1059m
U.S. Tax Residency

Getting an ITIN Without a Social Security Number

An ITIN is issued to people with a U.S. filing requirement who cannot get a Social Security number. What has to accompany the application, why passports go missing in the mail, and how ITINs expire.

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№1046m
U.S. Tax Residency

The Green Card Test and What Ends It

Lawful permanent residence makes you a U.S. tax resident regardless of where you live or how few days you spend in the country, and it continues until it is formally ended, not until you stop using it.

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№1039m
U.S. Tax Residency

Exempt Individuals: Days That Do Not Count

Students, teachers, trainees and certain foreign government personnel exclude days from the residency count entirely, but only for a limited number of years and only if the exclusion is reported.

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№10210m
U.S. Tax Residency

Dual-Status Years and the First-Year Choice

The year you arrive is rarely all resident or all non-resident. How a dual-status year is filed, what the first-year choice buys and costs, and the deductions a dual-status filer gives up.

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№10110m
U.S. Tax Residency

When Two Countries Both Call You Resident

Dual residence is common and the treaties anticipate it. The tie-breaker ladder runs through permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and nationality, in that order, and stops at the first rung that resolves.

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№1007m
U.S. Tax Residency

The Substantial Presence Test, Day by Day

The 183-day formula counts three years, not one, and it weights them differently. How the count works, which days are excluded before you start, and what changes the moment the test is met.

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