Form 1040-NR: U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return

File Form 1040-NR if you were a nonresident alien engaged in a trade or business in the United States during 2025. That applies even if you had no income from that business, no U.S. source income at all, or income that a treaty or the tax code exempts. You also file if you were not engaged in a U.S. trade or business, received U.S. source income reportable on Schedule NEC lines 1 through 12, and not all the tax you owe was withheld from it.

Some people are off the hook. You can skip the form if you were a student, teacher or trainee temporarily in the country on an F, J, M or Q visa with no income taxed under section 871. The same goes for a student or business apprentice eligible for Article 21(2) of the United States-India Income Tax Treaty whose 2025 gross income was $15,750 or less if single, or $31,500 or less as a qualifying surviving spouse. File anyway if you can get money back.

• You owe special taxes such as alternative minimum tax or household employment taxes.
• You received HSA, Archer MSA or Medicare Advantage MSA distributions.
• You had net earnings from self-employment of at least $400 and live in a country with a totalization agreement with the United States.
• Advance payments of the premium tax credit were made for you or a dependent.
• You are the personal representative for someone who died and would have had to file.
• You held a qualified investment in a qualified opportunity fund at any time during the year.

If you were an employee and received wages subject to U.S. income tax withholding, file by the 15th day of the 4th month after your tax year ends. For the 2025 calendar year that means April 15, 2026. If you did not receive wages as an employee subject to U.S. income tax withholding, you get two more months. File by the 15th day of the 6th month after your tax year ends, which is June 15, 2026 for the 2025 calendar year.

Estates and trusts split the same way, based on location. A nonresident alien estate or trust with an office in the United States files by the 15th day of the 4th month after the tax year ends. Without a U.S. office, the deadline moves to the 15th day of the 6th month. If a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, file by the next business day. File after the date and you may owe interest and penalties.

You can e-file Form 1040-NR, and then there is nothing to mail. If you send paper and you are not enclosing a payment, individuals mail it to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0215, USA. Estates and trusts with no payment enclosed mail it to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Kansas City, MO 64999, USA.

If you enclose a payment, everyone uses the same address: Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303, USA. Only the U.S. Postal Service can deliver to P.O. boxes, so you cannot use a private delivery service for a payment sent there. These addresses are for Forms 1040-NR filed in 2026. The address for returns filed after 2026 may be different.

Your income splits into three buckets. Income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business goes on page 1 and is taxed at the same rates that apply to U.S. citizens and residents. U.S. income not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business goes on Schedule NEC and is taxed at 30%, unless a treaty between your country of residence and the United States sets a lower rate. Income exempt by treaty goes on line 1k, with item L of Schedule OI completed.

Two other rates turn up. Nonresident alien individuals pay a 4% tax on U.S. source gross transportation income that is not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, entered on line 23c. And 85% of the U.S. social security and equivalent railroad retirement benefits you received are treated as income not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business, subject to that 30% rate unless a treaty exempts it or lowers it.

Everyone filing Form 1040-NR also completes Schedule OI (Form 1040-NR) and includes it with the return. Answer all of its questions. After that, take only the schedules that fit you. Schedule A (Form 1040-NR) covers deductions and losses properly allocated to income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. Watch the name on it. Schedule A (Form 1040-NR) is a different form from Schedule A (Form 1040), and you use it only with Form 1040-NR.

Schedule NEC (Form 1040-NR) handles income not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. Schedule P (Form 1040-NR) reports gain or loss when you transfer an interest in a partnership that is engaged in a U.S. trade or business or holds U.S. real property interests. Schedules 1, 1-A, 2 and 3 (Form 1040) carry extra income, extra deductions, extra taxes and extra credits. If you e-file, the software generally works out which ones you need.

• You cannot use Married filing jointly or Head of household on this form.
• Your filing status choices are Single, Married filing separately, Qualifying surviving spouse, Estate or Trust.
• Attach Forms W-2, 1042-S, SSA-1042S, RRB-1042S and 8288-A to the front of the return, and Form 8805 to the back.

The maximum child tax credit is $2,200 per qualifying child for 2025, and $1,700 of that can be claimed as the additional child tax credit. To claim either one, you need a valid SSN issued before the due date of your return, including extensions. The overall limit on the deduction for state and local income, sales and property taxes rose to $40,000, or $20,000 if married filing separately, with a reduction if your modified adjusted gross income tops $500,000.

A new Schedule 1-A (Form 1040) carries three new deductions: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and the enhanced deduction for seniors. Up to $5,000 of the adoption credit is now refundable. The Dependents section has numbered rows and asks for more information. Payment apps and online marketplaces now send a Form 1099-K only if your business transactions top $20,000 and you had more than 200 of them.