F-1 to H-1B: how to file your first tax return after the switch

Which date counts: the H-1B approval or the start date?

The date that counts is the day your H-1B status begins, not the day USCIS approved the petition. Your Form I-797 approval notice shows that validity start date.

A petition approved in June 2026 with an October 1 start date, the earliest for a cap-subject H-1B, puts you in H-1B status on October 1. Under the USCIS cap-gap rule, an eligible F-1 student's status and work permission continue until the H-1B start date, or April 1 of the fiscal year if that is earlier. That is an immigration rule, not a tax rule.

What does an October 1 H-1B start mean for my 2026 return?

With an October 1, 2026 start inside your five years, you are a nonresident alien for all of 2026. You file Form 1040-NR with Form 8843 by Thursday, April 15, 2027, and your H-1B pay still owes Social Security and Medicare tax from October 1.

The 2026 rates and the $16,100 standard deduction that nonresidents generally cannot take are in Revenue Procedure 2025-32. Students from India who qualify under Article 21(2) of the treaty can take it on Form 1040-NR. We have not confirmed whether that still applies in a year that ends on H-1B. The Form 1040-NR guide goes through the rest of the return.

When do Social Security and Medicare tax start on H-1B pay?

Social Security and Medicare tax start on your first day in H-1B status, even while you are still a nonresident alien for income tax. In 2026 that is 6.2% Social Security tax on wages up to $184,500 (SSA) and 1.45% Medicare tax, 7.65% in total.

The student exemption in IRC section 3121(b)(19) covers only work in F, J, M or Q status. OPT pay before the switch stays exempt while you are a nonresident alien (IRS: foreign student liability). If your pay stubs or W-2 (boxes 4 and 6) show either tax taken from that OPT pay, ask the employer to refund it. The FICA refund guide covers the IRS claim if it will not.

What if my H-1B started on or before July 2, 2026?

An H-1B start on or before July 2, 2026, with no trips abroad after it, gives you 183 or more counted days in 2026. You are a nonresident until your H-1B start date and a resident from that day, so 2026 is a dual-status year.

For example, an H-1B start on June 1, 2026 with a cap-exempt employer gives 214 counted days, June 1 to December 31. Residency then starts June 1, 2026. The IRS page on residency starting dates says an exempt individual's start date can be later than the day they arrived.

If you are a resident on December 31, you file Form 1040 marked "Dual-Status Return". You attach Form 1040-NR or a statement marked "Dual-Status Statement" for the nonresident part (IRS: taxation of dual-status individuals). It is due Thursday, April 15, 2027, like any return with wages.

The standard deduction rule is in the Form 1040-NR instructions and Publication 519. From your residency start date, income at home, such as interest on a bank account in your home country, is taxable in the US too. The China treaty guide and the India treaty guide explain the two student articles that can continue.

What if 2026 is my sixth calendar year in the US?

If 2026 is your sixth calendar year as a student or later, your F-1 days in 2026 already count, so your H-1B date does not change the result. If you were here on January 1, 2026 and stayed 183 days or more, you are a resident alien for all of 2026 and file Form 1040.

For example, a student first here in 2021, in F-1 status every year since, is in year 6 when they change from OPT to H-1B on October 1, 2026. This is not a dual-status year. Social Security and Medicare tax apply to all their 2026 wages, including OPT pay before October 1, and they do not file Form 8843.

Two things change the result. A student outside the US on January 1, 2026 becomes a resident on the first day back if they still reach 183 days, which makes 2026 dual-status. A student who qualifies for the Form 8843 line 12 exception stays a nonresident. Your sixth year on F-1 explains both.

Can I choose to be a resident from my H-1B start date?

Yes, through the first-year choice, if you do not meet the substantial presence test in 2026 but do meet it in 2027. Residency then starts on the first day of your first 31-day run of counted days: October 1, 2026 for an October 1 start with no trips abroad.

The IRS first-year choice page sets four conditions:

1. You were not a resident alien in 2025, and you did not make the first-year choice for 2025.
2. You meet the substantial presence test in 2027.
3. You were in the US at least 31 days in a row in 2026. Exempt days, such as F-1 days, do not count.
4. You were in the US on at least 75% of the days from the start of that 31-day period to December 31, 2026. You can treat up to 5 days away as days present "for purposes of this 75% requirement".

For Ana, the period starts October 1, so 92 days remain in 2026, and she needs at least 69 of them in the US (75% of 92 is 69). Her residency would then start October 1, 2026, and 2026 would be a dual-status year.

The choice is a statement attached to Form 1040 with your name and address. It says that you make the choice, were not a resident in 2025 and meet the 2027 test. It lists your days in 2027, the dates of your 31-day period and of continuous presence, and any days away you treat as present.

You must meet the 2027 test before you can make the choice, so the 2026 return usually has to wait. If Ana is in the US every day from January 1, 2027, her 153rd day is Wednesday, June 2, 2027, after the April 15 deadline.

Suppose you have not met the 2027 test by April 15, 2027. The IRS then says to request an extension on Form 4868 until a reasonable period after you meet it (IRS first-year choice page). Publication 519 (2025) says to pay with the extension the tax you expect to owe, figured as if you were a nonresident alien all year. An extension gives more time to file, not to pay: any tax you owe is still due April 15, 2027.

For a single filer, the choice creates a dual-status year, which gets no standard deduction, and it cannot be revoked without IRS approval. It usually matters most to married couples who combine it with the joint-return choice in the next section. Make the decision with someone who prepares dual-status returns.

What if I am married?

If you were a nonresident at the start of 2026 and a resident at the end, you and your spouse can choose to be treated as residents all year. You then file a joint Form 1040, handled as an ordinary return, not a dual-status return.

The cost is that both of you are taxed on worldwide income for the whole year. Neither of you can generally claim treaty benefits as a resident of another country (IRS: nonresident spouse). You attach a statement signed by both spouses, and each spouse needs an SSN or an ITIN. The choice does not change Social Security and Medicare tax.

Two nonresident spouses cannot file a joint return, and with an October 1 start you are not a resident on December 31, 2026 unless you also make the first-year choice. Make this decision with professional advice.

How do I show the change on Form 8843 and Schedule OI?

On the 2026 draft Form 8843, line 1b asks for your status on the last day of the year. If it changed while you were in the US, you also enter the date of the change and your previous status, F-1.

The 2026 draft instructions point to your Form I-797 for the date of the change. Line 4a asks for your days in the US in 2026, 2025 and 2024, and line 4b how many 2026 days you exclude. Exclude only your F-1 days, never your H-1B days. For Ana, that is 365 days present in 2026 and 273 excluded.

Attach Form 8843 to Form 1040-NR if you file one. You can then skip lines 1a to 4a if Schedule OI gives the same details, but you must complete line 4b. The Form 8843 guide covers the other lines.

Schedule OI asks about the change too. On the 2025 Schedule OI, item E asks for your visa on the last day of the year. Item F asks whether you ever changed your visa type or status, with the date and nature of the change. The 2026 Schedule OI is not yet published.

What to do next

1. Find the day your H-1B status began on your Form I-797, and count your calendar years as a student using the I-94 travel history and your passport stamps.
2. Count your days that were not in student status as the test does. If 2026 is within your five years and the count is under 183, file Form 1040-NR with Form 8843 by Thursday, April 15, 2027 (mailing guide).
3. If the count is 183 or more, or 2026 is your sixth year and the line 12 exception does not apply, you need Form 1040 or a dual-status return. Read the IRS dual-status page and use a preparer who handles them.
4. Check your W-2 and pay stubs for Social Security and Medicare tax taken from OPT pay before your H-1B start, and ask your employer to refund any you find.
5. If you are considering the first-year choice and have not met the 2027 test by then, file Form 4868 by Thursday, April 15, 2027, and pay with it the tax figured as if you were a nonresident alien all year.
6. If you worked in a state with an income tax, check the state tax guide for your state return.

F1TaxReturn prepares the federal Form 1040-NR and Form 8843 for free once the IRS publishes the final 2026 forms, for students in F, J, M or Q status all year. It does not prepare Form 1040 or dual-status returns, or yet record a change of status. If you switched to H-1B in 2026, use a preparer who handles status changes.