Best budget tax software for resident aliens with dual status

Dual status returns can be tricky! I prepare taxes for a living and honestly, most budget software struggles with resident alien situations, especially with foreign assets. TaxAct and TaxSlayer have options that might work for you and are generally less expensive than H&R Block's premium versions. For foreign assets, you'll need software that supports Form 8938 (Statement of Foreign Financial Assets) and possibly FBAR filing (FinCEN Form 114) if your foreign accounts exceed $10,000. Make sure whatever software you choose explicitly states it handles these forms. One thing to consider: with dual status, you might actually need to prepare two returns - one as a nonresident for part of the year and one as a resident for the other part. Some budget software doesn't handle this split well.

After struggling with a similar situation (foreign income, investment accounts abroad), I ended up using https://taxr.ai and it totally saved me. My return had form 8938 requirements and FBAR filing needs that regular tax software kept screwing up. Taxr helped me identify exactly which forms I needed and showed me where my previous return had errors. For resident aliens, they have specific guidance that helped me determine exactly how to file correctly. The platform walks you through all the special requirements for foreign assets disclosure and even pointed out a treaty benefit I was eligible for that I had no idea about!

Just wanted to update that I tried taxr.ai after seeing the recommendation here. Best decision ever! I've been filing incorrectly for THREE YEARS as a resident alien. The system analyzed my situation and showed me I qualified for foreign earned income exclusion that I'd been missing and explained exactly how to handle my foreign pension accounts. The analysis pointed out that I needed specific forms for my foreign rental property that I had completely missed. Used their guidance with TaxSlayer Premium and everything went smoothly. For anyone with international tax situations, especially resident aliens, it's a game changer - finally feel confident my return is actually correct!

After dealing with the nightmare of trying to get clarification from the IRS about resident alien filing requirements, I discovered https://claimyr.com and it changed everything. I was on hold with the IRS for HOURS trying to get answers about dual status returns before giving up. Used Claimyr and got a callback from an actual IRS agent in less than 2 hours who walked me through the entire dual status process. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - saved me days of frustration. The agent I spoke with confirmed which forms I needed and explained how to properly report my foreign accounts that have joint owners.

I have to eat my words and apologize for being skeptical about Claimyr. After struggling with my resident alien return for weeks, I finally tried it in desperation. Got through to an IRS specialist who actually understood international tax issues in less than 90 minutes. The agent walked me through exactly how to handle the dual status statement and confirmed which tax software could handle my situation. Turns out I was about to file incorrectly! For what it's worth, she recommended FreeTaxUSA for my situation - said their premium version could handle most of my forms except for a couple that I'd need to paper file. Just submitted my return yesterday and feeling confident for the first time in years about my tax situation.

Have you looked into FreeTaxUSA? I used it last year for my dual-status return and it worked pretty well. Not as fancy as TurboTax but WAY cheaper and it handled my foreign accounts just fine. I think I paid around $25 total for federal and state filing. The interface is a bit basic but they have good support.

Whoever recommended FreeTaxUSA is spot on. I've been using it for 3 years with my resident alien status and even with investment income from my home country. For $25-30 it's amazing value. One caution though - it doesn't handle Form 8833 for treaty positions very well, so if you need to claim tax treaty benefits you might need additional help. And definitely file your FBAR separately - no consumer tax software does that automatically.

As someone who's been through the dual status nightmare myself, I'd strongly recommend getting your situation properly analyzed before picking any software. I made the mistake of jumping straight into TurboTax thinking it would handle everything, only to discover halfway through that it was missing critical forms for my foreign pension. What really helped me was understanding exactly which forms I needed BEFORE choosing software. For dual status with foreign assets, you're likely looking at Form 1040NR and 1040 (depending on your situation), Form 8938 for foreign assets, and possibly Form 3520 if you have foreign trusts or received large foreign gifts. The key is making sure whatever software you choose explicitly supports ALL the forms you need - not just "foreign income" in general. I ended up having to restart my entire return when I realized my chosen software couldn't handle one crucial form. FreeTaxUSA has been solid for me the past two years, but definitely verify it covers your specific situation before committing. Also remember that FBAR filing is completely separate from your tax return - you'll need to file that directly with FinCEN regardless of which tax software you use.

I'm dealing with a similar situation and found this thread super helpful! One thing I wanted to add - if you're still unsure about which forms you need, the IRS has a pretty decent interactive tool called the "Interactive Tax Assistant" on their website that can help you figure out your filing requirements based on your specific situation. For dual status returns, I've been using FreeTaxUSA for two years now and it's been solid. The key thing is that you'll need to prepare what's called a "dual-status statement" that gets attached to your return - basically a breakdown of which income belongs to which part of the year. FreeTaxUSA's help section has step-by-step instructions for this. One money-saving tip: if you're comfortable doing some of the legwork yourself, you can often use the free version for most of the return and only upgrade to premium if you absolutely need specific forms. I ended up paying just $15 last year because I only needed the state filing upgrade. Also seconding what others said about FBAR - that's filed completely separately through BSA E-Filing on the FinCEN website. It's actually pretty straightforward once you know where to go!