Is there a free tax service for filing with Form 2555 (Foreign Earned Income) and Form 1042-S (Foreign Person's U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding)?

The free filing options for non-resident aliens with your specific forms are quite limited. You're right that most free versions of popular tax software don't support Form 2555 (Foreign Earned Income) or Form 1042-S withholding situations. Your best option is probably the IRS Free File program through OLT (Online Taxes), which does support both Form 1042-S and Form 2555 in their free version. However, you'll need to access it directly through the IRS Free File portal, not their regular website. The income limit is $73,000 but that shouldn't be an issue for your situation. Alternatively, you can use the Free Fillable Forms option directly from the IRS, though this is basically just a digital version of paper forms with minimal guidance - you'll need to understand the forms pretty well yourself.

I used to struggle with the same issues until I found taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It saved me so much hassle with my international tax situation. After spending hours trying to figure out how to file with both Form 1042-S and Form 2555, a colleague recommended this service. What I found especially helpful was how it guided me through the non-resident alien status determination (which can be super confusing) and then handled both my foreign income reporting and my US-sourced income on the 1042-S. The document analysis feature instantly recognized my 1042-S and pre-populated all the right fields, which saved me from making typos on those long strings of numbers.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai. I decided to give it a try despite my initial skepticism, and I'm genuinely impressed with how it handled my complicated situation with Form 2555 and 1042-S. The document scanner saved me tons of time - it extracted all the info from my messy university paperwork and even flagged a reporting error on my 1042-S that I wouldn't have caught. The system walks you through each section step-by-step and explains the tax treaty implications in plain English (which my country has with the US). I was able to complete everything in about 45 minutes and already got confirmation that my return was accepted by the IRS. Definitely beats the 3+ hours I spent last year trying to figure it all out on my own!

If you're still waiting for your refund after filing, I'd recommend checking out Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). I was in a similar situation last year with a fellowship stipend and 1042-S withholding, and after filing I waited almost 3 months with no updates on my refund status. Tried calling the IRS directly for weeks but could never get through - always got the "high call volume" message and disconnected. Someone on this sub mentioned Claimyr, and it actually got me connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes! You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to tell me my refund was flagged for additional verification (common with international filers) and helped expedite the process. Got my refund about 2 weeks later.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I was still desperate to reach the IRS about my 1042-S withholding refund that was stuck in processing for 4+ months, so I decided to give it a try anyway. It actually worked exactly as described. After literally dozens of failed attempts calling the IRS myself, Claimyr got me connected to an agent in about 35 minutes. The agent immediately identified that my return was flagged for manual review because of the foreign tax forms. They put in a request to expedite, and my refund was processed within 10 days. The service does exactly what it claims - gets you through to an actual human at the IRS without spending your whole day on hold. For international filers dealing with these specialized forms, it's definitely worth knowing about.

I just want to point out that you can technically file for free using the IRS Free Fillable Forms if you're comfortable filling out tax forms yourself. The catch is that there's no guidance - you're basically just getting blank digital versions of the paper forms. I did this last year with my 1042-S and 2555 as a visiting researcher from Chile. It's definitely not user-friendly, but if you're determined not to pay for tax software and are willing to do some research on how to fill everything out correctly, it works. Just be SUPER careful about the calculations - the system won't catch most errors.

Has anyone successfully claimed a refund of the withholding on a 1042-S without an ITIN or SSN? I'm in a similar situation (fellowship in US, now back in my home country) but I never applied for either one while I was there.

This might be a longshot, but are there any other Brazilian citizens here who have gone through this process? I'm curious about how the Brazil-US tax treaty affects stipend withholding. My university withheld 30% instead of the 14% mentioned by OP, and I'm wondering if I'm missing something about our tax treaty provisions.

I've been following this thread closely since I'm dealing with a similar situation as a visiting scholar from Germany. Just wanted to add a few observations that might help: For those struggling with the substantial presence test calculation, there's actually a helpful worksheet in IRS Publication 519 that walks through the exact formula. The key thing to remember is that days in the current year count as full days, previous year counts as 1/3, and two years prior counts as 1/6. Most short-term visitors won't meet the 183-day threshold. Regarding the Free File options, I found that TaxAct's free version through the IRS Free File portal actually does support Form 1040NR and can handle 1042-S situations, though you need to make sure you're accessing it through the official IRS gateway and not their regular website. One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that if you're claiming treaty benefits, you should also file Form 8833 (Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure) in many cases. This is often overlooked but can cause processing delays if missed. The instructions for your specific treaty will tell you when it's required. Also, for anyone still waiting on refunds - the IRS typically takes longer to process returns with international elements, especially first-time filers with ITINs. Don't panic if it takes 2-3 months; that's unfortunately normal for our situations.