If you study or do research in the US on an F, J, M or Q visa, regular tax software was not built for you. It will happily file the wrong form for you. My1040NR starts with your visa, your days in the US, and your treaty, then builds the return you actually owe the IRS: Form 1040-NR, Form 8843, or both. And it is completely free.
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Free to check your residency status today: run the residency checker. No account, no SSN needed.
Most international students are nonresident aliens for tax purposes. Mainstream software files Form 1040 for residents. Filing the wrong form can mean a wrong refund, a lost treaty benefit, and amended returns later.
Even with zero US income, F, J, M and Q holders (and their dependents) must mail Form 8843 every year. Most students never hear this until a university email scares them in March.
Treaty exemptions, tax-free scholarship rules, and FICA taxes your employer should never have withheld. A student-only product checks all three, every time.
We run the residency day test for your visa: 5 calendar years for F and J students, 2 years for J scholars and teachers. We never ask you if you were "exempt". We ask your first year, count your years for you, and show you the day math, not a black box.
W-2, Form 1042-S from your university, 1099s, and your I-94 travel history. We explain why your school sent both a W-2 and a 1042-S, and we stop you from entering the same income twice.
Form 1040-NR with Schedules NEC and OI, Form 8843 for you and your dependents, Form 8833 when your treaty claim needs it, delivered as one PDF you download. Page 1 of that PDF is your mailing slip: your return address, the correct IRS address for your exact return in large type, a checklist of what goes in the envelope, and a cut-out label for the envelope. We prepare the forms. You sign and mail them. We never transmit anything to the IRS.
There is no sign-up, no password, and no "come back later", because there is nothing to come back to. You answer the questions, get your PDF, and you are done, in one sitting.
Your answers are used once, to build your PDF, and then they are gone. We do not keep a copy of your return, your income, or your documents. A copy that does not exist cannot be leaked, sold, or breached.
The only reason your return needs a Social Security number is to print it on the forms. So we ask for it at the very end, on the last screen before your PDF is made, never at sign-up (there is no sign-up), and it is used for that PDF only.
And the product itself is just the PDF. We do not file for you, we do not transmit for you, and we never pretend otherwise. You download the file, print it, sign it, and mail it with the instructions we give you.
| Your situation | What My1040NR does |
|---|---|
| No income at all | Free Form 8843, filled and ready to mail, with the correct IRS address for a standalone 8843. |
| On-campus job or assistantship | W-2 plus 1042-S, treaty exemption applied, taxable scholarship split from tax-free tuition amounts. |
| OPT, CPT or STEM OPT job | Employer wages, FICA exemption check, and an estimated tax warning if withholding looks too low. |
| Employer withheld Social Security tax | If you are FICA exempt, we prepare the employer letter first, then Form 843 and Form 8316 for the IRS refund claim. |
| Year 6 or later in the US | We test whether you now pass the Substantial Presence Test and have become a resident for tax purposes, and we say so plainly. |
| Married, or spouse also on a visa | The filing status rules for nonresidents, the joint filing bar, and the election that can change it, shown with dollar amounts before you choose. |
| State tax question | We check every state you lived or earned in with that state's own rules, which can differ from the federal answer. If a state return is due, we prepare it into the same PDF with its own mailing slip, because it mails to the state in a separate envelope. Check your state now. |
Form 8843: free. Federal nonresident return (1040-NR): free. State return: free. FICA refund help: free. No credit card, no upsell wall, no fee at the filing step. See pricing.
If you are a nonresident alien, mainstream resident software does not prepare Form 1040-NR. If our checker says you are a resident for tax purposes, resident software can work for you, and we will tell you that honestly.
Yes, Form 8843, if you were in the US on an F, J, M or Q visa during the year. It is an information form, not a tax bill.
The form your university uses to report treaty-exempt pay and taxable scholarships. If you have one, you need a product that reads it correctly. Most do not.
For Form 8843 alone, no. To file a 1040-NR with income, you need an SSN or an ITIN. We walk you through Form W-7 if you need an ITIN.
Disclaimer, terms and privacy | Not tax advice. Not affiliated with the IRS.