Tax filing 1040NR

[tiktik]

All,

I was in US for some time from 2016 till 2020 .

Nearly for a year from Oct 2020 , I am living in India due to personal reasons. I dont have any income in 2021, so no W2. I invested in shares , so planning to sell them at a loss of 50%.
Now when the current year tax season starts , i may have to file 1040NR as i dont have income also not physically present in USA.

Can someone guide me which site can help me in filing 1040NR ? I may have to show loss in stocks and also I have a USA born kid - did received child tax credit in my bank account.

Questions:
1. Do i need to file state tax (even if i am away from USA physically for more than a year) online ?
2. Can i claim the child tax credit for USA citizen kid or should i return back the money to IRS ?
3. Which website is reliable for filing 1040NR from india ?
4. I have 2 brokerages - should i close them and take the money out ? should i tell apply W-8BEN to the 2 brokerages ?
5. What documents should i collect and keep for 1040NR filing ?

Thanks for the replies.

[flyingron]

Where are these brokerages and companies you are invested in.
You can not qualify for the child tax credit if you (or your spouse) are not residing in the US for more than half the year. Further, you can't file a 1040NR as married filing jointly or head of the household which is also required for the credit.
You can e-file with a number of IRS partner sites or with tax professionals. You can't efile directly with the IRS though you can obtain a PDF form from irs.gov and mail it in.

[newacct]

Since you're posting in the H1b/H4 forum, I'm assuming that you don't have a green card. What is your spouse's status? (do they have a green card? were they in the US in 2021?)

[tiktik]

Where are these brokerages and companies you are invested in.
You can not qualify for the child tax credit if you (or your spouse) are not residing in the US for more than half the year. Further, you can't file a 1040NR as married filing jointly or head of the household which is also required for the credit.
You can e-file with a number of IRS partner sites or with tax professionals. You can't efile directly with the IRS though you can obtain a PDF form from irs.gov and mail it in.

Thanks for your time in replying to my message.

Robinhood , etrade and webull are the brokerages.

Robinhood emailed me requesting me residency proof - I said I am out of country for nearly a year and they then requested my local ID proof for W-8BEN i guess .
So who takes care of W-8BEN generally - should the brokerage issue it or i need to take up the responsibility to inform them ? Honestly W-8BEN is little confusing for me.

I have a US citizen child - am I still not eligible. Well i dont mind paying it back, infact i never expected that money in my bank account - looks like some error from IRS side.

Agreed 1040NR can be filed only as individual.

Any reliable partner site for 1040NR ?

I was using HRBLOCK software in my laptop for filing for all these years, but i dont think they support 1040NR atleast via software installation.

[tiktik]

Since you're posting in the H1b/H4 forum, I'm assuming that you don't have a green card. What is your spouse's status? (do they have a green card? were they in the US in 2021?)

Thanks for your reply. Well yes I dont have green card. My company did applied PERM for me , but it got rejected nearly after an year - have no idea why it failed. My wife was in H4 only .
Myself and family returned to india during 2020 due to family reasons.

[newacct]

Since neither you nor your wife have a green card, you guys do not pass the Green Card Test. Since neither of you were in the US in 2021, you guys do not pass the Substantial Presence Test for 2021 either. So you guys should both be nonresident aliens for all of 2021. As a nonresident alien, you cannot claim dependents, and thus cannot claim the Child Tax Credit for 2021 (unless you are a US national, or resident of Canada, Mexico, or South Korea, or student from India).

I am not sure how nonresident aliens will be able to return the Child Tax Credit advance payment. The 2021 tax forms are not out yet.

By the way, since your US citizen child cannot be claimed by anyone as a dependent for 2021, your child qualifies to get their own $1400 third stimulus payment as a tax credit by filing their own 2021 tax return.

[tiktik]

Since neither you nor your wife have a green card, you guys do not pass the Green Card Test. Since neither of you were in the US in 2021, you guys do not pass the Substantial Presence Test for 2021 either. So you guys should both be nonresident aliens for all of 2021. As a nonresident alien, you cannot claim dependents, and thus cannot claim the Child Tax Credit for 2021 (unless you are a US national, or resident of Canada, Mexico, or South Korea, or student from India).

I am not sure how nonresident aliens will be able to return the Child Tax Credit advance payment. The 2021 tax forms are not out yet.

By the way, since your US citizen child cannot be claimed by anyone as a dependent for 2021, your child qualifies to get their own $1400 third stimulus payment as a tax credit by filing their own 2021 tax return.

Thanks. Thats really helpful.

[Bishop478]

If you file form 1040 (U.S. resident return), you must report, and are subject to taxation on your worldwide income. Non-Residents, who file form 1040NR, must only report their US sourced income.

[newacct]

If you are a nonresident alien but got the advance child tax credit, I believe you would have to fill out 2021 Form 1040 Schedule 8812, and eventually it would calculate the amount you have to add back to your taxes on line 40, and this flows onto your 2021 Form 1040 Schedule 2 line 19, which then flows onto your 2021 Form 1040NR line 23b.