IRS 8840 Form

What is the U.S. IRS 8840 form?

If you find that you qualify as having a Substantial Presence in the U.S. (the information page about what substantial presence means is right here) then it is possible that you could be dunned for U.S. Income Tax, even if you don’t earn money in the U.S., or live there full time.

If that is the case, you MUST take steps to prove to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that even though you spend a lot of time in the U.S., you are not a citizen there nor should you be expected to pay U.S. income tax, and that you do qualify for what the IRS calls a “Closer Connection Exception”.

How?  You fill out and submit a Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens, and that, fellow Snowbirds, is the Form 8840.  An image of a portion of the form follows:

According to the IRS “If you are an alien individual and you  meet the closer connection exception to  the substantial presence test, you must  file Form 8840 with the IRS to establish  your claim that you are a nonresident of  the United States by reason of that  exception.”

What Form 8840 Does

By filling out the IRS 8840 Form you are providing evidence to the IRS that, even though you may stay in the U.S. for extended periods of time each year and – by their formula –  they have determined that you have a substantial presence in the U.S., you should be exempt from having to pay U.S.  income tax.

 Where Do You Get IRS 8840 Form?

You can download a copy in .PDF format if you visit this URL: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8840.pdf

Please copy the URL from this page and paste it into the navigation bar at the top of your browser. This will open the .PDF, and you can print it immediately or save the form to your computer to be printed at a later date.

After the Form 8840 Is Filled Out

After you have filled out the form you have to submit it to the IRS. How?

• If you do not have to file a U.S. tax return then send the Form 8840 to:Department of the Treasury,
  Internal Revenue Service Center,
  Austin, TX 73301-0215

If you have to file a U.S. income tax return:

• If you are filing a 2014 Form 1040NR or  Form 1040NR-EZ, attach Form 8840 to  it. Mail your tax return by the due date  (including extensions) to the address  shown in your tax return instructions.

 When Do You Have To File Your Form 8840?

Oddly enough, unless we missed it, it does not say in the instructions on form 8840 when it has to be submitted, except that it has to be in by the “due date”.

We did some further research and it appears as though the current “due date” for submitting the IRS form 8840 is by June 15th of the following year.

Word to the wise; if it were us, we wouldn’t delay, but would submit the form as quickly as we can to allow as much time for the ponderous wheels of government to turn, and for a resolution to this issue before we next wanted to take our Canadian Snowbird journey to the United States.