Introduction

Alright, let’s start filling out the tax return. Form 1040NR-EZ is the tax form most commonly used by F1 students. If you landed directly on this article, we recommend first reading Overview and Tax Residency and Choosing the Right Tax Form to make sure you are eligible to use this form, so you do not end up reading the wrong guide.

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[Disclaimer] This article is intended only as a guide. It does not constitute, and cannot be used as a substitute for, professional legal or financial advice. If you have actual tax issues, or need legal representation before the IRS or the United States Tax Court, please consult a qualified accountant or attorney.

The Form

We will explain some common questions line by line. To save space, any part not explained here may simply be because the official instructions are already very clear; you can refer to the corresponding lines in the guides linked below. Here are the links to the form: 1040NR-EZ and the official 1040NR-EZ instructions.

General Instructions

If a line does not apply to you, such as a question about scholarship income when you did not receive any scholarship, you may either enter 0.00 or leave it blank, unless there is a specific instruction saying otherwise.

Personal Information

There is not much to say here: enter your name and your most recent U.S. residential address. For the Identifying number field, enter your SSN. If you do not have an SSN but still need to file a tax return, you must enter your ITIN. If you do not have an ITIN either, you must also file W-7 together with your other tax forms according to the W-7 instructions.
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Lines 1-2

Check the box based on your marital status as of December 31, 2016. If your marital situation is complicated, such as being separated, please refer to the official instructions.
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Line 3: Wages

Add up the amounts on line 1 of all your W-2 forms. If your 1042-S also reports wage income, meaning you were paid for work performed, such as TA or RA work, include that as well. Also include income amounts from 1099-B (short-term stock gains), 1099-MISC (miscellaneous income), and 1099-R (pension distributions). If you were in F1/J1 student status, you may subtract $5,000. If this was a year in which you changed between F1/J1 and another status, you may subtract up to $5,000 only from the income earned during your F1/J1 period; income earned in other statuses cannot be reduced. If the applicable amount is less than $5,000, subtract only the actual amount. Enter the result on line 3. If you are a J1 teacher or researcher, mainly postdocs and visiting scholars, then during your first two years this income may be fully exempt from federal income tax, so you may subtract all wages earned as a postdoc or visiting scholar on line 3. Note:

  • In theory, income from unauthorized work must also be reported even if you did not receive any tax form for it.
  • Any 1099-MISC issued for bank account opening bonuses must be reported. F1 students may legally receive this type of income, so there is no need to worry that it will be treated as unauthorized work. On the other hand, if you receive a 1099-MISC and do not include it in your income, the IRS can easily detect that.

Line 4: State and Local Income Tax Refunds

If you received a state tax refund last year and itemized your deduction for state taxes, which would likely be the case if you correctly filed this same form last year, you probably received a 1099-G. Add line 1 and line 2 from the 1099-G and enter the total here.

Line 5: Scholarships and Fellowship

If you received a scholarship or fellowship, excluding money provided by the Chinese government, enter that amount here. If the school did not issue a 1042-S for this income, you must also attach a Non-Service Scholarship/Fellowship Grant Statement. An example will be provided later.

Line 6: Income Exempt by Treaty

Enter on line 6 all amounts you subtracted from W-2 income on line 3 under a treaty. If you are a Chinese student, also add fellowship income. If none applies, you may leave this line blank.

Line 8: Exempt Portion of Scholarships and Fellowship

Only enter non-service scholarships here, excluding TA and RA income because those are service-related. Fellowship income has already been deducted on line 6, so it does not need to be entered here. Note that the amount excluded here cannot exceed tuition and educational expenses, such as books and supplies. In general, scholarship amounts rarely exceed that limit, so you can usually just enter the scholarship amount. But if it really does exceed that amount, you can add the excess to line 6, because non-service scholarships are tax-exempt under treaty Article 20(b).

Line 11: Itemized Deduction

Gather all the 1099, W-2, and 1042-S forms you received, and add up the amounts shown as State Income Tax (Withheld) and Local Income Tax (Withheld) on each form. Specifically, these are line 17 and line 19 on the W-2, and line 17a on the 1042-S. There are too many versions of the 1099 to list individually here.

Line 16: Unreported Social Security and Medicare Tax

For most people, this line can be left blank. If you received tips from unauthorized work, such as working as a restaurant server, you need to check the box for 4137 and complete Form 4137. Likewise, wages from unauthorized work should be reported on Form 8919.

Line 18: Federal Income Tax Withheld

On line 18a, enter the total of line 2 from all W-2 forms plus line 4 from any 1099-R forms. If none applies, you may leave it blank. On line 18b, enter the total of line 10 from all 1042-S forms.

Line 19: Other Federal Tax Payments

For most people, leave this blank. If you used 1040-ES (NR) to pay federal tax directly to the IRS, or if last year you chose to apply your refund to this year, enter the amount of federal tax paid on this line.

Line 20: Federal Tax Paid with 1040-C

If you filed 1040-C in 2016, enter here the federal tax you paid at that time.
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Line 23: Refund

If line 22 is blank, skip this line. Otherwise, we recommend entering the amount from line 22 on line 23a as a full refund. Then enter your bank account information on lines 23b-23d, and the IRS will deposit it directly by ACH. If you want to receive a check instead, why, you can leave lines 23b-23d blank and enter the mailing address for the check on line 23e.

Line 26: Penalty for Tax Owed

If line 25 is:

  • greater than or equal to $1,000; and
  • greater than 10% of the amount on line 15; and
  • you did not pay Estimated Tax by the deadline

then you may need to file Form 2210 and pay a penalty. Please refer to that form’s instructions.

Signature

Sign your name where it says "Sign Here," enter the date, and write your occupation next to it, for example, "Student."
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Lines A-B

Chinese students generally need to enter "China, People's Republic of."

Lines C-D

Just answer truthfully. In most cases the answer is "No."

Line E

Enter your status as of December 31, 2016, such as "F1 Student" or "H1B."

Line H

Enter the dates you were actually present in the United States for each year. Count by calendar day: if you were in the United States at any time during a day in local time, even for less than a full day, it counts as one day.

Line I

Answer truthfully. For example, if you filed 1040NR-EZ last year, write "2014 1040NR-EZ"; if you have never filed before, select "No."

Line J(1)

If you used the $5,000 treaty exemption, enter "China, People's Republic of" as the country, "Article 20 (c)" as the treaty article, the number of months since you arrived in the United States in F1 status, and the amount actually used, which of course cannot exceed $5,000. If you added fellowship income or non-service scholarship income on line 6, add another entry with country "China, People's Republic of," treaty article "Article 20 (b)," the number of months during which you received the fellowship, and the fellowship amount. If you are a scholar in J1 status and all your income is exempt from federal tax, use "Article 19."
Finally, in (e), calculate the total of all amounts from column (d).

Line J(2)

The answer to this item does not really affect anything. In theory, Chinese nationals are also taxed on foreign-source income, so in general you should answer "Yes."

Line J(3)

If you do not know what this is, just answer "No."
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Summary

That is the guide to filing 1040NR-EZ. If you are an F1 student, do not forget that you also need to file 8843. Have any questions? Go ahead and ask.