Alien Student

I believe the reference in Pub 17 is to an individual who is eligible to make the election to be treated as a resident for the full year. This would include dual status aliens under certain conditions and a nonresident alien spouse of a resident or citizen. Individuals who are present as international students on an F-1 visa are by definition exempt individuals. I.e., they are exempt from the substantial presence test. They are not dual status. As such, I don't believe they can make an election to be treated as residents.

I suppose if you have an F-1 student who is married to a US citizen or US resident, an election could be made.

That makes perfect sense. Thanks.

What would be the tax rate on form 1040-NR, and would your client be entitled to the standard deduction?

See the instructions in 1040-NR:

Resident Alien or Nonresident Alien If you are not a citizen of the United States, specific rules apply to determine if you are a resident alien or a nonresident alien for tax purposes. Generally, you are considered a resident alien if you meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for 2007. (These tests are explained below.) Even if you do not meet either of these tests, you may be able to choose to be treated as a U.S. resident for part of 2007. See First-Year Choice in Pub. 519 for details.

You are generally considered a nonresident alien for the year if you are not a U.S. resident under either of these tests. However, even if you are a U.S. resident under one of these tests, you may still be considered a nonresident alien if you qualify as a resident of a treaty country within the meaning of the tax treaty between the United States and that country. You can download the complete text of most U.S. tax treaties at

For more details on resident and nonresident status, the tests for residence, and the exceptions to them, see Pub. 519.

Green Card Test You are a resident for tax purposes if you were a lawful permanent resident (immigrant) of the United States at any time during 2007.

Substantial Presence Test You are considered a U.S. resident if you meet the substantial presence test for 2007. You meet this test if you were physically present in the United States for at least:

183 days during the period 2007, 2006, and 2005, counting all the days of physical presence in 2007, but only ? the number of days of presence in 2006 and only ? the number of days in 2005.

The above suggests that you can use regular 1040.

But then, if you use the regular form 1040, would you be entitled to the EIC? Assuming the student works on campus and they make a little bit of money, they could be entitled to EIC because their income is within range, they have a social security number, etc -- but the rules also say "You must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year, or a nonresident alien married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien and filing a joint return.".

IIRC she had to itemize. I don't remember the tax rate.