Free federal tax filing for F-1 and J-1 international students

Yes, Form 8843. Every F-1, J-1, M-1 or Q student who is a nonresident alien files Form 8843 for each year they were in the US, even with no income at all. Spouses and children on F-2 or J-2 file one each. If you had US income, you also file Form 1040-NR.

Your federal return is free. A state return is $30 plus a $2 processing fee. The one add-on is the FICA refund claim, $20 flat, for Social Security and Medicare tax withheld from your pay by mistake, and only if your employer will not refund it. Nothing else: no audit protection upsell, no fee to download your forms.

No. We prepare paper returns that you print, sign and mail. Your download includes every form you need and mailing instructions for each one: which address, what to enclose, and how to get proof that you mailed it on time.

Form 1040-NR, Form 8843 and their schedules, state returns for California, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts, and the FICA refund claim (Form 843 with Form 8316). The income you can enter is W-2, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV and 1099-MISC. We do not take Form 1042-S or 1099-B yet, and we do not prepare amendments, extensions or resident returns. Every form, and what to do about the ones we do not handle, is on one page.

Usually, yes: most F-1 and J-1 students who are nonresidents don't owe either on pay for an on-campus job, CPT or OPT. Ask your employer to refund it first; we write the letters for you, free. If they won't refund it, we prepare your claim to the IRS, Form 843 with a Form 8316 for each employer, for $20. It goes to the IRS in its own envelope, separate from your Form 1040-NR.

You are. We fill in the forms from your answers; you check them and sign. F1TaxReturn is a form-filling tool. It puts what you tell it on the official IRS and state forms. It is not a CPA, an enrolled agent or a tax adviser, and nobody reviews your return before you mail it. Check every line against your W-2s and other documents before you sign: your signature tells the IRS the return is true, correct and complete. Our Terms of Service say the same.

Email support@f1taxreturn.com and we will get back to you. Write from the email address on your account within 60 days of paying, and say which tax year you paid for and what went wrong. We refund a duplicate charge, and forms you could not download because of a problem on our side; anything else we look at case by case. Please leave your Social Security number and passport number out of the email.

California, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts. If you only worked in a state with no income tax on wages, such as Texas, Florida or Washington, you have no state return to file.