F-1 to H-1B in 2026 and single: how to file a dual-status return, step by step

How do you split your 2026 pay and withholding?

Divide your 2026 income at your residency start date, using your pay stubs. Your Form W-2 shows the whole year as one total.

1. List each 2026 paycheck: its date, its wages taxable for federal income tax, and the federal tax withheld. Use the taxable figure, not gross pay, if a 401(k) or other pre-tax deduction was taken.
2. Total the paychecks received before your start date. Those go on the statement and are also counted on Form 1040. Paychecks from your start date go on Form 1040 only.
3. Split interest the same way. US bank interest received while you were a nonresident is not taxable (IRS). From your start date, interest from all sources is taxable, including from accounts abroad (Publication 519).
4. Keep the stubs. They are your only record of the split.

Which form is the return, and which is the statement?

Form 1040 is the return, because you were a US resident on December 31, 2026. Form 1040-NR is the statement for the months before your start date (IRS).

On Form 1040, check "Other" at the top and write "Dual Status Return" on its line. On Form 1040-NR, check "Other" and write "Dual Status Stmt". Publication 519 (2025) gives this wording, and the 2026 drafts of Form 1040 and Form 1040-NR keep the box.

The statement shows your name, address and SSN or ITIN. You sign only Form 1040. The 2025 Form 1040-NR instructions say not to sign the Form 1040-NR, and Publication 519 (2025) says your signature on the return covers its statements.

What goes on the Form 1040-NR statement?

The statement covers January 1 to the day before your H-1B start. It holds the US income, withholding and any treaty exemption of your F-1 or OPT months, with Schedule OI and Form 8843.

Lines are from the 2026 draft Form 1040-NR.

1. Line 1a: the wages you received in that period. Lines 25a and 25d: the federal tax withheld from them.
2. Line 1k: treaty-exempt pay for that period only. Treaty benefits generally apply only to the part of the year you were a nonresident (Publication 519).
3. Schedule OI: the 2025 form asks your visa on the last day of the year (item E, H-1B), your change of status with its date (F), every entry and exit (G) and your days in each of the three years (H). The 2026 Schedule OI is not yet published.
4. Form 8843: attach it to the statement, as the 2026 draft says ("If you are filing a 2026 Form 1040-NR, attach Form 8843 to it"). Line 1b asks your status on December 31 and, after a change, its date and your previous status.

Students from India who qualify under Article 21(2) can take the standard deduction on Form 1040-NR, but a dual-status return gets none. We found no IRS text that says which rule applies to the statement, so ask a preparer.

What goes on Form 1040 for the resident months?

Form 1040 carries the whole year: everything you received from your start date, from all sources, plus the statement's US wages and the taxable part of any US scholarship. You file as single, check the dual-status box and itemize, because the standard deduction is not allowed.

1. Filing status: Single. Head of household is not allowed on a dual-status return (Publication 519).
2. Line 1a: wages from both periods. Pay that a treaty exempts on the statement's line 1k stays exempt; ask a preparer how to show it here.
3. Line 2b: interest received from your start date, in US dollars.
4. Line 12c: check "You were a dual-status alien". The 2025 instructions say the standard deduction is then zero (2025 Form 1040 instructions).
5. Schedule A, line 5a: state income tax withheld in 2026 (W-2 box 17). Line 5e caps it at $40,400; line 18 is the total, which goes on Form 1040, line 12e. Nonresidents may deduct state income tax on their wages too (Publication 519), so the whole year counts.
6. China's Article 20 continues after residency only while you are still a student or trainee, within the time reasonably needed to finish. If it applies, enter the exempt amount in parentheses on Schedule 1, line 8z, with "Exempt income", the country and the article (China treaty guide).

Education credits are not allowed on a single filer's dual-status return (Publication 519).

How is the tax figured and the withholding credited?

Your US wages from both parts and your resident-period income are taxed together on Form 1040, less itemized deductions, at the 2026 single rates. All federal tax withheld in 2026 goes on line 25d.

US dividends received in the F-1 months are taxed apart, at 30% or a lower treaty rate, with no deductions (IRS). Figure that tax on Schedule NEC with the statement. Then carry it to Schedule 2 (Form 1040), line 13o on the 2026 draft (line 17o in 2025).

The 2025 Form 1040-NR instructions say to write the statement's withholding "in the space to the right of line 25d", identify it and include it in line 25d (instructions). Count it once: the box 2 figures on your W-2s already cover the whole year. In the example below, line 25d is $10,900, not $10,900 plus $3,700.

Was Social Security and Medicare tax taken from the right pay?

Social Security and Medicare tax start on your H-1B start date. Pay earned on F-1 or OPT as a nonresident student is exempt, but H-1B pay is not, and the exemption ends once you are a resident (IRS).

1. Check W-2 boxes 3 and 5: they should hold only pay for work from your start date. In the example, that is $52,500, with $3,255 in box 4 (6.2%) and $761.25 in box 6 (1.45%).
2. If they include OPT pay, ask your employer to refund the tax on that part.
3. If the employer does not refund all of it, claim it from the IRS on Form 843 with Form 8316 by Monday, April 15, 2030 (Form 843 guide; FICA refund guide). F1TaxReturn's paid claim is only for students who were nonresidents all year, so it cannot prepare this one.

How do you sign, put together and mail the return?

Sign Form 1040, attach your W-2s and the statement, and mail the return on paper. Publication 519 (2025) says dual-status taxpayers cannot e-file for tax year 2025, and the 2026 edition is not yet out.

1. Sign and date Form 1040 by hand. Leave the Form 1040-NR unsigned.
2. Attach a copy of each W-2 to page 1 of Form 1040, where it says "Attach Form(s) W-2 here".
3. Put Schedule A and any other schedules behind Form 1040, then the statement with Schedule OI and Form 8843.
4. Mail it by Thursday, April 15, 2027. The 2025 Form 1040 and Form 1040-NR instructions give the same dual-status addresses: without a payment, Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0215, USA; with a payment, Internal Revenue Service, P.O. Box 1303, Charlotte, NC 28201-1303, USA. Only the US Postal Service delivers to a P.O. box. Check the 2026 instructions before you mail.
5. Need more time? Form 4868, filed by April 15, moves the filing date to Friday, October 15, 2027, but not the date to pay.

Do you file an FBAR or Form 8938 for 2026?

You may need both if your accounts abroad are large enough. A resident alien files an FBAR when their foreign accounts together passed $10,000 at any time in the year (IRS).

The FBAR is FinCEN Form 114, filed online with FinCEN, not with your return. It is due April 15, 2027, extended automatically to October 15 (FBAR guide). We found no IRS text that says whether a dual-status year needs it for all of 2026 or only from your start date, so ask a preparer.

Form 8938 goes with Form 1040. A resident alien for any part of the year is a "specified individual" (Form 8938 instructions). A single filer living in the US files it above $50,000 of foreign financial assets on December 31 or $75,000 at any time (IRS).

Which months of a dual-status year it covers depends on its "Reporting Period" rules; ask a preparer.

With an account abroad, you also file Schedule B (Form 1040) and answer line 7a of the 2025 form. Its instructions say to check "Yes" even if you do not have to file an FBAR.

What to do next

1. Find your H-1B validity start date on Form I-797 and count your days from it on your I-94 history.
2. Collect your W-2s (employers must send them by Monday, February 1, 2027) and every 2026 pay stub, then split the year.
3. Fill in the Form 1040-NR statement, Schedule OI and Form 8843, then Schedule A and Form 1040.
4. Mail the return to the dual-status address by Thursday, April 15, 2027, or file Form 4868 and pay by then.

F1TaxReturn does not prepare dual-status returns. For help, use a paid preparer who handles status changes.