Reprinted from 美卡攻略, written by KUKU

OLT is very suitable for cloud residents who are outside the U.S. to file taxes this way. The tax return generated can help prevent AMEX FR from issuing a 4065T—without a tax return, you may get all your cards shut down. It can also help you keep everyone’s ITIN because you need a tax return every five years to keep it from expiring. Of course, if you are in the U.S. and have NonResident status, you can also use this for online filing, which is quite convenient because you don’t have to mail anything. —by ymlulu

Before we start

Some members in the group said OLT is very easy to use for NRA online filing. Personally, I mostly use TaxAct because it keeps records, so you can leave out a lot of fields each year.

I’m introducing OLT today and trying it out. After going through it, it really does feel easier than TaxAct and simpler overall. OLT’s interface is very beginner-friendly. The tax-form filling principle is:

  • Confirm your filing status and form type (OLT works for many profiles, both RA and NRA)
  • If there is a default choice, choose the default first
  • If there is no default, choose No first

Once you understand these three rules, the “cloud resident” tax filing is mostly clicking through, and you can usually finish in about 5 minutes.

Disclaimer:

  • Pay taxes according to the law, wherever you are.
  • OLT supports filing for all types of status. Please file based on your actual situation and consult a tax professional. This article is only for reference and tips for NRA cloud residents outside the U.S.
  • If you plan to become a U.S. citizen or obtain a green card in the future, please consult a tax professional and file carefully.
  • This was written quickly; if there are mistakes, please contact USCCS_01 on WeChat.

Create an account

For OLT account registration, go here:

  • https://www.olt.com/main/oltfree/default.php

After registering, you also need to set three security questions. Choose ones you can answer later.

Then just verify the information.

After this, you can begin filing.

Fill in basic info

I’ll just show the steps briefly here, and there may be some omissions; the entire interface is straightforward and you can just follow the prompts.

When filling in basic info, put your ITIN in the Social Security Number field.

If you are a cloud resident outside the U.S., select 1040-NR. For other statuses, choose based on your actual U.S. status. This article mainly targets NRA cloud residents.

When entering contact info, it is recommended to use U.S. information; of course, foreign addresses are also supported (including China).

Next are questions related to 1040-NR (this is where OLT does a really good job and quickly helps determine which sections you need to fill in).

Form 8840/8843 is not useful for card-focused “cloud residents,” so just skip all of it.

Then there are some exemption/refund-related items. For “cloud residents” who only do card activities, these usually do not exist; do not make up information, and it won’t make sense. Skip them or select No.

It is not recommended to add extra resident states—you only need one address. For the residence address in personal info, it is recommended to choose a U.S. address because if you later get an AMEX FR request for 4506-C, it needs to match the U.S. address used on your return. If you use a rented address, it is generally better to rent in a state with no state income tax, such as the four tax-free states and Texas, which can save you the hassle of filing state taxes (that said, state taxes are generally low; fill according to your own situation). If you do not need 4506-C, do not want to pay state tax, and are physically outside the U.S., then use a non-U.S. address (such as China), which means you do not need to pay state tax.

  • If you may need 4506-C within the next year, it is recommended to file with a U.S. address.
  • If you do not need 4506-C, the address is flexible and can be a non-U.S. address.

For mailing address, if you can use a U.S. address, use it; if you use a foreign address (for example, China), there may be issues such as lost mail.

Then comes tax filing status. In general, it is recommended that cloud residents file as single. Even if both spouses use U.S. cards, each can file separately (this is just a recommendation; if you prefer joint filing, that is also fine). No need to make things more complicated. (This is only advice for cloud residents outside the U.S.; if both spouses are in the U.S., file jointly according to the regulations.)

For most other info, choose No.

For dependents/children, choose No as a general recommendation (or fill according to your actual situation).

If you have a U.S. driver’s license, fill it in (even an expired one counts). If you do not have one, or leave it blank, that is fine—this is for ID verification, and if you are worried about making a mistake, leaving it blank is allowed. But for AL and NY state tax, driver’s license info is required.

Review basic information

Once everything is in order, most of the remaining sections are simple. OLT will provide default priority choices based on your status.

File formally

Next comes the actual filing. Prepare the forms you received. In this family account of mine, I only have two forms: 1099-int (bank interest) and 1099-MISC (credit card refer rewards).

For NRA cloud residents, 1099-int can be exempt as long as it is not from business or investment accounts (for example, personal checking and savings are NRA-exempt). For 1099-MISC, as long as it is not business income, only 10% is needed (refer is treated as rewards/awards, so only 10% is withheld).

For other business income, the tax rate is generally 20% or higher. For other non-business income (Other income), such as Prizes and awards, you can enter the amount directly, and NRA is taxed at 10%. (This is suitable for many users who want to keep their ITIN—generally, entering at least $10 and paying at least $1 tax, then pay with pay1040 or by ACH from your own account.)
I’ll start by covering a tax filing topic many people ask about: filing taxes only to keep an ITIN alive.

Proactive filing to keep your ITIN alive

The IRS requires an ITIN to be used on a U.S. federal return at least once every 3 years, otherwise it can expire. Official wording:

“https://www.irs.gov/zh-hans/tin/itin/how-to-renew-an-itin”

“If an ITIN is not used on the federal tax return for 3 consecutive tax years, the number will expire on December 31 of the year after the third consecutive tax year in which it was not used on a U.S. federal tax return.”


But here’s the issue: what if I have no taxable income? U.S. tax rules require you to report any income you have, even unlawful income.

The answer is to file proactively. Be careful—don’t file randomly. If the filing is wrong and IRS audits it, you could face tax risk or penalties. So we generally recommend using Other income as the safer filing category. This entry is on the page: Your 2024 income summary, then scroll to the bottom.

Find Other income

After opening it, select Other income (as shown).

Then choose add a new other income.

When choosing the category, we recommend Prizes and awards. Choose at least $10 (tax due is $1). Some people prefer $60 (tax due is $6). The reason is that very small taxes (not exceeding $5) may be waived by the IRS (for reference only). As long as there is at least $1 due, you can pay later through pay1040, so it’s up to you. You can also enter a higher amount (for example, to help avoid FR requesting 4506-C, set a higher income). If your only goal is keeping the ITIN, $10 or $60 both work.

After completing this, default is best—select No/None wherever available. The system then checks for errors. Everyone should fill in their country, and set immigration type to non-U.S. immigrant (or your 2024 U.S. visa type, if you have one). For everything else, confirm defaults or select no/none. For filing status, choose single, no children (or fill in your actual status).

Before submission, it may ask for miscellaneous fields—skip them or choose none.

After this, you’ll be told whether you can file for free. Usually this is fine—income for a non-resident filer typically is not high.

For tax-exemption items, skip all or choose no.

Finally, the system checks your entries and validates them one by one again.

For example, if you forgot to select your country above, just add it now.

Next, it asks about U.S. residency time and whether you traveled to Canada, Mexico, etc. Usually, most people select none.

For visa and immigration info: if you have a visa, enter your visa status as of the last day of the tax year (for example, if your B1/B2 is still valid, enter B1/B2). If you have no visa, enter immigration status (for example, non-U.S. immigrant).

If you changed your U.S. visa type before, answer it here (choose No if you have not changed).

Then it asks whether you traveled to Canada/Mexico, etc., based on your actual situation—usually no.

After the forms are complete and reviewed, the final section is payment choice.

If you do not have any U.S. bank account, select the first payment type: mail or pay online (pay online is supported by pay1040 at https://www.pay1040.com/). You can pay by credit/debit card with a 1.75% fee.

If you have a checking or savings account, you can also pay by ACH by selecting the second method, entering your account information, and setting the debit date.

Then review everything once more. OLT does this pretty well—strongly recommend downloading these tax returns (especially the 1040NR) to check whether core info has any mistakes. I once typed APT incorrectly: because OLT limits characters in the APT field, I entered APT XXX, and the final address became APT NO. APT X, missing two characters. Also, back up these returns separately, because you may need them later (for example, when filing next year, you may need to enter this year’s AGI).

Then review a few more items; OLT will provide recommendations to follow.

Here, be sure to choose e-file, or you will need to mail it yourself.

Next, confirm last year’s filing info. If you did not file last year, enter AGI as 0. If you did file, enter your actual value (check your last year’s 1040—do not enter it wrong, or IRS may reject it).

Next, set a 5-digit PIN.

At this point, you are almost done.

OLT is quite good at this point: before final submission, it asks you to review core information again (excluding address). This includes payment method too. My example here is Chase ACH. One more tip: if you do not have a bank account, choose mail or online payment and pay via pay1040 or the IRS website. If you selected the wrong option, update it right away.

Then verify the three most important items again: name, DB, SSN/ITIN.

OLT will also ask you to recheck the taxpayer’s date of birth. At the final step, you can submit.

After you submit, you can return to your account at any time to print the return, or check whether the filing has been accepted by the IRS.

After submitting, you will receive a submission-success email from OLT (email subject: Receipt From On-Line Taxes).

After IRS accepted it (you will receive an email notification, email subject: Federal Acknowledgement – Accepted Return), note that sometimes the system integration may fail (you may also be reminded by email), and in that case you need to submit again in OLT.

Then go to the pay1040 website (https://www.pay1040.com/) and pay taxes by credit card. After RS receives the money, they will also send you a confirmation email, usually in 1-2 days.

Fill in your personal information and the amount of tax you owe in order (in my example it was $114 tax; fill your own amount, like $1, $6, or another amount). Don’t select the option at the bottom (unless you received an IRS collection notice, then you can select it).

If you did not receive an IRS collection letter, do not select that option above. For spouse info, non-resident aliens generally should consider filing individually as married filing separately on Form 1040 (if both spouses need to file), or you can choose to file jointly if you prefer. Make sure it matches what you filled out on your tax form.

Then enter your credit card information and confirm.

This ad option should also not be selected.

You’re all done.

A confirmation email will be sent as well (email subject: Payment Confirmation).

In about 1-2 days (worst case might be 5-7 business days), you should receive the IRS payment-received confirmation email (email subject: Payment Confirmation- IRS EFT Reference Number). In my case, it was done in one day, as shown below.

Filing normally with tax forms

Next, I’ll go over filing my 1099-INT and 1099-MISC.

1099-INT

  • 1099-INT is usually bank interest income and can typically be found in the “Document” section of your online banking. If not, usually the filing threshold was not met (generally, $10 in annual interest is needed to issue one, but some banks may issue it even with $0.01 interest). Some banks may only send paper tax forms; please keep an eye on your mailbox.
  • Add it directly based on your form. 1099-INT income is generally entered on table 1, and usually no other fields need to be filled out (unless the bank withheld tax for you).
  • When filling out the form, you will see this related option where you can select nontaxable types.

You will then get a note about 1099-INT NON TAXABLE INTEREST FOR NON RESIDENT ALIENS, as shown below. Note that this must be interest from a non-business, non-investment U.S. bank account. For example, interest from my Chase and AMEX Rewards Checking falls into this category. U.S. tax amounts are rounded down by the software (it is handled automatically), so even if the amount on your form is less than $1, you should still enter it.

Next, it will ask about foreign account information; choose No for all of them to avoid adding extra steps for yourself.

After that, the system will process it automatically, and this part is not taxable. If it is from a business or investment bank account 1099-INT, you need to pay 10% tax and choose according to the type.

1099-MISC

OLT is quite good because you can directly select a pre-entered tax-form provider when adding a form, but 1099-MISC requires the payer’s address (1099-INT does not), so remember this. 1099-MISC income is generally filled in table 3, other income; usually no other fields need to be filled (unless the bank withheld tax for you). Some banks provide only their EIN on the form and no address; in that case you need to search on Google. For example, Chase is this

After filling in 1099-MISC, you also need to select a declaration. We are generally bank invitation rewards, so choose prizes and awards; this type is taxed at 10%.

You can also choose other income-1040, sch 1 line 8z, which lets you add income notes and show it on the return.

Other form types

Other forms such as 1099-B, 1099-NEC, and so on are also covered, and OLT gives good input prompts, so just choose according to the workflow.

After all forms and information are filled in, review it and check whether anything was missed.

Review all content again; other steps are similar to the earlier 【4.1 无税表主动报税保 ITIN】 and do not need repeating.

For payment steps, see 【4.1 无税表主动报税保 ITIN】, so it is not repeated.

Additional information

The article is already quite long, and most key information has been covered. Remember these points:

  • No matter where you are, file taxes in accordance with the law.
  • OLT is suitable for filings of various tax statuses. Please file according to your actual situation, and consult a tax professional. This article is only some suggestions and references for NRAs who are outside the U.S.
  • If you plan to apply for U.S. citizenship or get a green card in the future, consult a tax professional and file taxes carefully.
  • This was written quickly; if there are mistakes, please contact USCCS_01 on WeChat.

This article was reprinted from 美卡攻略, author is KUKU