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.
How many 8840 form from the same house can be mailed in one envelope?
Hi Gilles. I wasn’t able to get a formal answer, but I can tell you that couples often include both of theirs in one envelope. I don’t see as how many in one envelope would be any issue at the receiving end either.
Form 8840 Line 1…what is immigration status? Since we have no VISA or I94, or can you just put date you arrived
If I interpret your question properly, in the absence of VISA or other referred to documents, I would simply put the date you arrived in the U.S.
What does “current year” mean ? January 1 to December 31? Day you arrive in the US and day you leave the US ?
Not sure of where on the form you are to get the whole context of your question, but I take “current year” on the form to mean the year we are in right now, from January 1 through December 31st.
Can anybody help with Question 13 as to what is required when it asks to
“attach verification”
whay may this entail ? 2018 tax return ?
I understand it to mean that I would attach a photocopy of the summary page of my tax return. Anyone else?
Hi,
Is there any way we can either email the form or upload it to the IRS?
I don’t own a printer anymore…
J.D., I can only tell you what the IRS says… “When and Where To File If you are filing a 2018 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. If you do not have to file a 2018 tax return, mail Form 8840 to the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, TX 73301-0215 by the due date” I do know that Revenue Canada does not allow a citizen to email anything to their servers for security… Read more »
We are travelling snowbirders and have multiple US addresses (RV Parks and State Parks) throughout the year. What should we enter in the “Address in the United States field”?
Good question. The area in question has enough room for multiple addresses I would think. Or, enter the one in which you were at longest, and add a note saying that you are transient RV’ers or some such, and here’s a list of other addresses. That’s what I’d do, anyway.
Hi,
I can’t seem to find the 2019 form 8840 on line. They are all 2018 ones. Could you email me one?
Thanks,
Diane Fettig
Hello Diane. I’ve checked, and as far as the IRS is concerned, I guess, the 2018 form is the current one, since they have not updated their site with a new form. Just go to the link on the page and download the form.
2019 is not over so there is no 2019 form. The IRS is only concerned with the 2018 tax year. Information for 2016, 2017 and 2018 is required.