[Individual]Which forms should Nonresident alien use? (Jan-18-2011, 90 Days)

Usually Nonresident Aliens use Form 1040NR, but if all items in the following list apply to you, you may also use 1040NR-EZ:

	1040NR-EZ	1040NR
Income Source	less than 100,000 Only wages, salaries, tips, state or local tax refund and scholarship or fellowship grants	All
Dependent	Do not claim any dependents Do not be claimed as another person's dependents	Yes
Exemption	Only one person exemption, not for your spouse	Only one person exemption, not for your spouse, except you are resident of Mexica, Canada, South Korea or india and meet certain requirements.
Exclusion	student loan interest deduction Scholarship and fellowship grants excluded from Income	IRA Deduction Archer MSA Deduction Health Savings Account Deduction (Form 8889) Student loan interest deduction Moving Expenses Self Employed health insurance Deduction Self-Employed SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans Penalty for early withdrawal of savings Scholarship and Fellowship grants excluded from Income Domestic Production Activities Deduction (Form 8903)
Itemized Deduction	state and local income taxes	If you receive income effectively connected with U.S. trade or business: State and local income taxes Charitable contributions to U.S. non-profit organizations Casualty and theft losses Miscellaneous itemized deductions The ordinary and necessary expenses related to a U.S. trade or business
Credit	No credit	Can not claim Earned Income Tax Credit, the Hope Credit, or the Lifetime learning Credit.
Tax you owe	Tax from the tax table Unreported social security and medical tax from Form 4137 or Form 8919
Self-Employment Tax	Not liable to	Not liable to
Other	No credit for excess social security and tier 1 RRTA tax withheld This is not an "expatriation return".

PSQ

Source: http://www.irs.gov

[Individual]Dependent or Independent 2 (Jan-15-2011, 93 Days)

Some special rules apply to qualifying child and qualifying relative.

1. Adopted child

Treatment	Same as your own child
Nationality test	You are citizen or national Adopted child live with you all years as a member of your household
SSN or ATINs	If you do not know his SSN, you must get an Adoption taxpayer identification numbers from IRS

2. Children of divorced or separated parents

Noncustodial parent can have a qualified child as his/her dependent, if all of the following conditions apply,

• The parents are divorced, legally separated, separated under a written separation agreement, or lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of 2010.
• The child receive over half of his or her support from the noncustodial parent.
• The child is in custody of one or both of the parents for more than half of year.
• Custodial parent release his/her claim to exemption for a child in Post-1984 and pre-2009 decree or agreement or Post-2008 Form 8332, or Noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent and provide at least 600 support through pre-1985 decree of divorce or separation agreement.

Tips: Custodial and noncustodial parents

	Custodial parents	Noncustodial parents
Step 1: Number of nights lived together	Greater	Less
Step 2: If step 1 are same, then Adjusted Gross Income	Higher	Lower

3. Qualifying child of more than one person

If a child meets the conditions to be the qualifying child of more than 1 person, only one person can claim the following tax benefits:

• Dependency exemption
• Child tax credits
• Head of household filing status
• Credit for child and dependent care expenses
• Exclusion for dependent care benefits
• Earned income credit

Usually the child is qualifying child of :

• First, Parents
• Then, the one with whom the child lived for the longest time during the year, or, if the time was equal, the parent with the highest AGI
• Last, if no taxpayer is the child's parent, the taxpayer with the highest adjusted gross income.

PSQ

Source: http://www.irs.gov

[Individual]Dependent or Independent 1 (Jan-14-2011, 94 Days)

Qualifying Child and Qualifying Relative may be your dependent and bring you some tax benefits. But what's qualifying child and qualifying relative? There are some tests to do.

	Qualifying Child	Qualifying Relative
Relationship	Son, Daughter, Stepchild, foster child, Brother, sister, half brother, half sister, Stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them	Son, Daughter, Stepchild, foster child, or a descendant of any of them Brother, sister, half brother, half sister, or a son or daughter of any of them Father, mother, or an ancestor or sibling of either of them Stepbrother, stepsister, stepfather, stepmother, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law Any other person (other than your spouse) who lived with you all year as a member of your household if your relationship did not violate local law.
Age	Under age 19 at the end of 2010 and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly) Under age 24 at the end of 2010, a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year Any age and permanently and totally disabled
Residence	Live with you for more than half of 2010. Temporary absences for special circumstances count as time the person lived with you, such as school, vacation, business, medical care, military service, or detention in a juvenile facility. A child is considered to have lived with you for all of 2010 if the child was born or died in 2010.
Support	Did not provide over half of his/her own support	You provided over half of his or her support Worksheet for determining support
Taxpayer		Not a qualifying child of any taxpayer Not required to file a U.S. income tax return Do not file such a return or files only to get a refund of over-withheld income tax
Gross Income		less than 3650 If permanently and totally disabled, certain income for services performed at a sheltered workshop is excluded.

If qualifying child and qualifying relative meet certain conditions, they are your dependent.

	Qualifying Child --to be---Dependent	Qualifying Relative --to be---Dependent
Nationality	U.S. citizen, national, resident alien, or a resident of Canada or Mexico	Same rule as qualifying child
Marital status	If married, did not file a joint return or only file a joint return as a claim for refund	Same rule as qualifying child
Be claimed as someone else's dependent	If you or your spouse file jointly, you cannot be claimed as a dependent on some else's tax return	Same rule as qualifying child

PSQ

Source: http://www.irs.gov