When a return is required
For 2025, gross income of $15,750 filing single, $31,500 married filing jointly, $23,625 head of household — and just $5 if married filing separately. Higher if you are 65 or older.
Process Automation
We map the manual work inside your operation, automate it with Power Automate, Excel and AI-driven workflows, and measure the hours it gives back.
- Invoices, reports and approvals that run themselves
- Built inside the tools you already pay for
- Hours and error rate measured before and after
U.S. Company and Tax
Formation, EIN, ITIN through an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent, the company and personal returns, and the bookkeeping underneath them.
Quote your caseGlobal Talent
Vetted remote professionals, full time, by deliverable, by the hour or by project. They stay on our payroll, not on yours.
CAD and Site PlanningAccountingFinance and FP&AData AnalysisSystems and Software EngineeringAdministrative SupportProject ManagementCustomer Support
See all roles Business Intelligence
We turn scattered spreadsheets and systems into Power BI dashboards your team actually uses to make decisions.
- One source everyone reads from
- Dashboards built around decisions, not every metric
- Refreshed on their own, not rebuilt on Mondays
U.S. tax returns · IRS Registered Tax Preparer
Do you have to file in the United States?
It depends on two things: whether the IRS treats you as a U.S. person, and what you actually do there. This page walks through both, with the rules as the IRS states them, and the questionnaire at the end tells you which return your case points to.
The first fork
U.S. person, or foreign person.
Everything else follows from this. A U.S. person reports worldwide income. A foreign person reports only what is connected to the United States. Most confusion we see comes from people who assume they are one and are actually the other.
U.S. person
- Citizen, green card holder, or someone who meets the substantial presence test
- Files Form 1040 on worldwide income, wherever you live
- May owe nothing thanks to exclusions or a treaty, and still has to file
- Foreign bank accounts over $10,000 in total trigger an FBAR
Foreign person
- Neither citizen nor resident under the IRS tests
- Files Form 1040-NR, and only on U.S.-source income
- Two very different tax treatments apply, depending on the type of income
- May have filings even in a year with no profit at all
A visa is not the test. Someone on a tourist visa can become a U.S. tax resident by spending enough days there, and someone with a U.S. company can remain a foreign person for life.
The test people get wrong
Counting days: the substantial presence test.
You are treated as a U.S. resident for tax purposes if you were there at least 31 days this year and 183 days across three years, counting the earlier years at a fraction.
1
This year
Every day counts as a full day. You need at least 31 of them for the test to apply at all.
⅓
Last year
Each day counts as one third of a day.
⅙
The year before
Each day counts as one sixth. Add the three together: 183 or more and you are a resident for tax purposes.
Some days do not count: commuting from Mexico or Canada, transit under 24 hours, days you could not leave for medical reasons, and days as an exempt individual on certain student, teacher or diplomatic visas. Those exclusions are claimed on Form 8843, not assumed.
If you are a foreign person
Two kinds of U.S. income, taxed nothing alike.
This is the distinction the whole non-resident return turns on, and it is worth understanding before you sign anything.
Effectively connected income
- Income from a U.S. trade or business you are engaged in
- Taxed at the same graduated rates as a U.S. citizen
- Expenses and deductions are allowed against it
- Reported on the front of Form 1040-NR
FDAP income
- Passive U.S. income: interest, dividends, rents, royalties
- Flat 30%, or lower if a treaty says so
- No deductions at all — the tax is on the gross amount
- Reported on Schedule NEC of Form 1040-NR
The difference is not academic. The same rental income can be taxed at 30% of every dollar received, or at graduated rates after mortgage interest, taxes, insurance and depreciation — depending on an election you make, or fail to make, on the return.
What you do decides what you file
Six situations we are asked about most.
General rules, not a ruling on your case. Which one applies depends on facts we would need to ask about, and a tax treaty with your country can change the answer.
- ✓You sell services to U.S. clientsWhat usually matters is where the work is performed, not where the client is. Services carried out entirely from your own country are generally foreign-source. Fly in and do the work there, repeatedly and regularly, and you may be engaged in a U.S. trade or business, which changes everything.
- ✓You rent out U.S. propertyBy default the rent is FDAP: 30% withheld on the gross, with no deductions. Under section 871(d) you can elect to treat it as effectively connected and pay graduated rates on the net instead. For most landlords that election is the difference between a tax bill and a refund.
- ✓You sell on Amazon or another marketplaceThe question is whether your activity amounts to a U.S. trade or business. Inventory sitting in U.S. warehouses, staff or agents acting for you there, and how much of the operation runs from inside the country all weigh on it. A treaty with a permanent-establishment article can protect you even when the answer leans yes. This is a fact-heavy area and worth an actual conversation.
- ✓You own a U.S. LLC on your ownA single-member LLC owned by a foreign person pays no income tax itself, but it must file a pro-forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 attached, every year, even with no activity. The penalty for not filing is $25,000, with another $25,000 if it continues past 90 days after the IRS notifies you.
- ✓You are a partner in a U.S. LLC or partnershipThe partnership files Form 1065 and issues you a K-1. If it has income effectively connected to a U.S. business, it must also withhold on your share — 37% for individual partners, 21% for corporate ones — and report it on Forms 8804 and 8805. You then file your own 1040-NR and claim that withholding back against what you actually owe.
- ✓You sold, or are selling, U.S. real estateFIRPTA generally requires the buyer to withhold 15% of the sale price, not of your gain. It drops to 10% when the buyer will live there and the price is between $300,000 and $1,000,000, and to nothing at $300,000 or less on the same condition. A return is how you reconcile that withholding against the real tax.
If you are a U.S. person abroadThreshold Self-employed Accounts abroad
Living outside the country does not end the filing.
U.S. citizens and residents file on worldwide income no matter where they live. Owing nothing is common; not having to file is rare.
$400 changes it
Net earnings from self-employment of $400 or more require a return regardless of the thresholds above, because of self-employment tax.
The FBAR
Foreign financial accounts adding up to more than $10,000 at any point in the year are reported to FinCEN by 15 April, automatically extended to 15 October. It is separate from your tax return.
Dates
When it is due.
15 Apr
Form 1040, and 1040-NR with wages
The standard deadline. It is also the FBAR date, and the date any tax owed has to be paid, extension or not.
15 Jun
Form 1040-NR without U.S. wages
A non-resident with no wages subject to withholding and no U.S. office files by the fifteenth day of the sixth month.
+6 m
Extensions
An extension buys time to file, never time to pay. Interest and penalties run from the original date on anything unpaid.
16 m
The deadline behind the deadline
The IRS can refuse deductions and credits on a non-resident return filed more than 16 months late. Filing late is expensive; filing very late can cost you the deductions themselves.
Questionnaire
Which case is yours?
Six questions. We tell you which return your situation points to, what we would need from you, and what to watch out for. At the end you can ask for a quote on your specific case.
The questionnaire needs JavaScript. If you cannot enable it, write to us and we will go through your case with you directly.
How we helpRegistered ITIN included Year round
Prepared and filed, not just advised.
IRS Registered Tax Preparer
We prepare and file the return itself: 1040, 1040-NR, and the company filings behind it.
Certifying Acceptance Agent
If you need an ITIN to file, the W-7 goes out with the return and your passport stays with you.
Bookkeeping behind it
Returns are only as good as the records. We can keep the books through the year so filing season is not a reconstruction.
What we do not do is tell you what you want to hear. If your case needs a position we are not comfortable taking, we will say so before you pay us anything.
Frequently asked
What people ask first.
My U.S. company had no activity. Do I still file?
Very probably. A foreign-owned single-member LLC files a pro-forma Form 1120 with Form 5472 whether or not it traded, and the penalty for skipping it is $25,000. “No activity” is a reason the return is simple, not a reason there is no return.
My clients are American but I work from my own country. Do I owe U.S. tax?
For services, what generally matters is where the work is performed rather than where the client sits. Work carried out entirely outside the United States is usually foreign-source. It is a general rule with exceptions, so it is worth confirming against your facts rather than assuming.
They withheld 30% from my rent. Can I get it back?
Often, yes, in part. With the section 871(d) election the rent is taxed at graduated rates on the net figure after expenses and depreciation, and a return is how you claim the difference. There are time limits on making the election, so this is one to deal with sooner rather than later.
Does having an LLC make me a U.S. tax resident?
No. Residency for individuals depends on citizenship, a green card, or days of physical presence. Owning a company changes what the company files, not what you are.
I have not filed for several years. How bad is it?
Usually better dealt with than left. Penalties are generally calculated on tax owed, so years with no tax due often cost little, and the IRS has procedures for people who come forward on their own. Tell us the whole picture and we will tell you what it looks like.
Is this the same as sales tax?
No, and the two get confused constantly. Income tax is federal and it is what this page is about. Sales tax is set by each state, has its own registration rules, and can apply to sellers who owe no federal income tax at all. If you sell goods, both need checking.
Not sure which of these you are?
That is the normal starting point, and it is what a first call is for. Tell us what you do and where you do it, and we will tell you what you have to file — before you pay us anything.
Everything on this page is general information drawn from IRS guidance, not tax advice for your situation. Rules change and treaties differ by country; your case gets confirmed by a person before anything is filed.