Hi,

Does anyone have an idea if a person on h1b(from Oct 2008), is eligible to file 1040(instead of 1040NR) for 2008 if he was on OPT(and F1 visa) before that and he has not been in USA for 5 years.

Thanks,

Khabarji,

I was in the same position last year. Let me explain what I did and what you can do too.

What you can do is wait until the first week of June to apply for your tax return to qualify yourself as a resident by the substential presence test. However, you have to file form 4868(Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return)

and pay the applicable tax with your 4868 form as if you are filing as 1040NREZ. You have to calculate the tax as you would pay had you have to file 1040NREZ. They will not even ask you how did you calculate this figure. Just calculate this figure the way you use to do before while you filed 1040NREZ. You will get your money back after you file your tax return (1040) in the first week of June after.

After the first week of June, you will meet the substential presence test to file the tax return  as a resident and at that time you can use form 1040. For further details, you can read publication 519 available in irs.gov website.

Hope this helps and does not create more questions for you!

Purush Jee,
Thank you for your reply. I had looked into the options you mentioned.
I think what you explaining might be the first year choice option.
I had two questions though
1) Is the first year choice available for Part Year Only(and not the whole year)
and
2) Can singles file under the dual status.(which i think is for whole year)

Look forward to any inputs.

Thanks Again