Resident or NON-resident for tax purpose? Multiple visa entries to US

This is a great question about residency for tax purposes! The IRS uses something called the "Substantial Presence Test" to determine if you're a resident for tax purposes. For the Substantial Presence Test, you count the days you were physically present in the US during 2023, plus 1/3 of your days in 2022, plus 1/6 of your days in 2021. If this total is 183 days or more, you generally meet the substantial presence test. However, there's a special exemption for students on F and J visas - days spent in the US under these visas are typically exempt from the count for your first 5 calendar years. Based on your timeline, you were on J1 status for about half of 2023, and your previous F1 stays were back in 2017-2019, which should be counted in your 5-year exemption period. Without knowing the exact day counts, it's possible Sprintax might be missing some nuance about your situation. Did you provide all your historical visa information to Sprintax?

Just wanted to share my experience with determining tax residency status. I was in a similar situation with multiple entries on student visas, and I found a tool at https://taxr.ai that really helped clear things up for me. I was getting different answers from different tax software programs and was totally confused. The taxr.ai system analyzed my visa history, travel dates, and explained exactly how the Substantial Presence Test applied to my specific situation with the student exemption rules. It was super helpful because it showed exactly how my days were being counted (or excluded) for each year. For international students with complicated visa histories like yours, having something break down the specific calculations made a huge difference. It even generated documentation I could keep with my tax records showing how my residency status was determined.

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after I was skeptical earlier. I decided to try it since my situation got more complicated (added OPT time to my F1). The tool was actually super helpful! It analyzed my complete travel history and correctly identified that I was still within my 5-year exemption period as a student. It created a detailed day count that showed exactly why I was a non-resident despite being physically present for more than 183 days. What I found most useful was that it generated a complete substantial presence test calculation document that I could keep with my tax records in case of any questions from the IRS. It gave me a lot more confidence in filing as a non-resident, which saved me from having to report my foreign scholarship income.

If you're still confused after trying to figure this out yourself, you might want to try calling the IRS directly for clarification. I know, I know - getting through to them seems impossible. I tried for weeks and kept getting the "call volume too high" message. I finally used https://claimyr.com and was seriously surprised when they 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 IRS agent I spoke with was able to confirm my status as a non-resident based on my visa history and pointed me to the specific publication (Pub 519) that covered my situation. Having that direct confirmation from the IRS gave me peace of mind that I was filing correctly and wouldn't have issues later.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After posting that skeptical reply, I was still stuck with no way to verify my residency status for my complex visa situation, so I decided to try it. It actually worked! Got connected to an IRS rep in about 35 minutes (still WAY faster than I would have on my own). The agent walked me through Publication 519 and confirmed that my J1 research days don't count toward substantial presence for the first two calendar years. For the original poster - I'd highly recommend getting official clarification from the IRS since residency status impacts EVERYTHING on your tax return. The peace of mind from speaking directly with them was worth it, especially when dealing with the exempt days calculation which can be tricky with multiple visa types.

Just to add another perspective - I've been filing taxes as an international student for 5 years now. The Substantial Presence Test has a lot of exceptions, especially for F and J visa holders. Double check if you're counting days correctly - the exempt period for J1 visa holders is typically 2 calendar years, while for F1 it's 5 calendar years. Since you were on different visa types, you need to track them separately. My university's international office offers free tax help specifically for cases like yours. Does your school have an international student office? They often have specialized tax resources that understand these visa exemptions better than general tax preparers.

One more thing to consider - remember that resident vs. non-resident status affects which tax forms you use and what income you report. As a non-resident (which you likely are based on the visa history you described), you'd file Form 1040NR, not the regular 1040. The big difference: non-residents only pay taxes on US-source income, while residents pay taxes on worldwide income. If you have income from your home country, this distinction makes a HUGE difference!