How to File 1040-NR Online as a Nonresident Alien

You can file Form 1040-NR online, but not with the tax software most people know. TurboTax and H&R Block don’t support the non-resident return, so filing 1040-NR online means using a platform built for non-resident aliens, such as Sprintax or GLACIER Tax Prep, or filing through IRS Free File Fillable Forms. For the 2025 tax year, your return is due April 15, 2026, and the IRS accepts most 1040-NR e-filings within 24 hours of submission.¹

Software That Actually Supports Form 1040-NR

Sprintax and GLACIER Tax Prep are the two platforms built specifically for non-resident returns. Both use interview-style questions, confirm your residency status, and generate the completed 1040-NR along with Schedule OI and any other schedules you need. Many universities buy institutional access and give it to their international students and scholars free of charge, so check with your school’s international office before paying out of pocket.

If your adjusted gross income is $89,000 or less, IRS Free File offers guided preparation at no cost. For any income level, Free File Fillable Forms are available and do support Form 1040-NR.² Fillable Forms are essentially electronic versions of the paper form with no guidance, so they work best if you already know what belongs in each line and just want a free way to transmit the return.

Documents to Gather First

Open the software only after you have these in hand:

Your Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Every line ties back to it.³
Form W-2 for wages from any U.S. employer.
Form 1042-S for income subject to withholding under Chapter 3 or 4, including scholarships, fellowship grants, royalties, and treaty-exempt wages.³
Records of other U.S.-source income: rental statements, Form W-2G for gambling winnings, or Schedule K-1 for partnership income.
Your passport, visa type, and every date you entered and left the United States during the tax year. Schedule OI asks for exact dates.
Your prior-year adjusted gross income, which the IRS uses to authenticate your e-filing.

If You Don’t Yet Have an SSN or ITIN

Non-resident aliens who can’t get an SSN need an ITIN. You apply by filing Form W-7 and attaching it to the front of a completed 1040-NR, then mailing the whole package to the IRS ITIN Operations center in Austin, Texas, not the address in the 1040-NR instructions.⁴ Processing runs about seven weeks, or nine to eleven weeks if you apply between January 15 and April 30. Because the ITIN application has to travel with a paper return, first-time ITIN applicants can’t e-file for that initial year.

Filling Out the Parts That Are Unique to the 1040-NR

Two Income Buckets

The 1040-NR splits your income in two. Effectively connected income, meaning wages, business profits, and certain rental income tied to a U.S. trade or business, is taxed at the same graduated rates that apply to residents.⁵ Income not connected to a U.S. business, such as certain dividends, royalties, or investment gains, is taxed at a flat 30% (or a lower treaty rate) and reported separately.

Watch for a trap: interest from a U.S. bank deposit account is generally not taxable for non-resident aliens. You don’t include it as income on the main section of the form; you only disclose it on Schedule OI. Give your bank a Form W-8BEN so they don’t withhold on it.⁶

Deductions

Non-resident aliens generally can’t take the standard deduction. You itemize, and your deductions are limited to expenses connected to your effectively connected income.⁷ Allowable items include state and local income taxes, charitable contributions to U.S. nonprofits, and casualty or theft losses from a federally declared disaster. Charitable contributions and disaster losses count even if they don’t relate to your effectively connected income. One exception to the standard-deduction ban: students and business apprentices from India may claim it under Article 21(2) of the U.S.-India Income Tax Treaty.⁸

Schedule OI

Schedule OI is unique to the 1040-NR and easy to overlook. It asks for your country of citizenship, your country of tax residence, your visa type, every date you entered and left the United States during the tax year, and the number of days you were present in each of the last three years.⁹ The dates must be precise, so keep your passport and travel records next to you.

Treaty Benefits

If a tax treaty between your home country and the United States reduces or eliminates tax on some of your income, you must claim it affirmatively on the return.¹⁰ Treaty claims go on Schedule OI: the country, the specific article, the number of prior years you’ve used the benefit, and the dollar amount of exempt income.⁹ If your employer already reduced withholding during the year using Form 8233, the exempt wages appear on your Form 1042-S rather than your W-2, and you still report them on Schedule OI.

Dependents

Most non-resident aliens can’t claim dependents. The exceptions are narrow: residents of Canada, Mexico, or South Korea, U.S. nationals, and students and business apprentices from India under their treaty. The dependent must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.¹¹

Submitting the Return

E-filing replaces your signature with a five-digit PIN you choose yourself (anything except all zeros). To verify your identity, the IRS wants either your prior-year adjusted gross income or the prior-year Self-Select PIN you used last year.¹² An Identity Protection PIN from the IRS replaces the AGI step entirely.

First-time filers get stuck here often. If you’ve never filed a U.S. return before, enter zero for your prior-year AGI. Don’t leave it blank, or the return will bounce back.¹³

After you submit, the IRS usually returns an acceptance or rejection within 24 hours.¹⁴ A rejection notice carries an error code telling you what to fix. Common reasons: a name and identification number that don’t match, an incorrect prior-year AGI, or a duplicate filing.

Situations That Still Require Paper Filing

Some 1040-NR filers can’t e-file yet because the IRS system doesn’t accept their return type. File on paper if you are:

A dual-status taxpayer whose residency changed during the year. Dual-status returns are labeled “Dual-Status Return” across the top, attach the other form as a statement, and can’t be transmitted electronically.¹⁵
A fiscal-year filer whose tax year doesn’t follow the calendar.
An estate or trust filing on Form 1040-NR.
A first-time ITIN applicant, because Form W-7 has to be mailed with the return.

These limits stay in place until the IRS updates its e-file system.³ Separately, students and scholars on F, J, M, or Q visas who earned no U.S. income don’t file a 1040-NR at all; they file Form 8843 to document their exempt-individual status.¹⁶

Deadlines, Extensions, and Late Penalties

For the 2025 tax year the deadline is April 15, 2026. Filing Form 4868 by that date gets you an automatic six-month extension to October 15, 2026.¹⁷ Non-resident aliens who didn’t receive wages subject to U.S. withholding may have until June 16, 2026, without requesting an extension, though any tax owed still accrues interest from April. An extension buys time to file, not time to pay.

Late-filing penalties are 5% of the unpaid tax per month, up to 25%. If your return is more than 60 days late, the minimum penalty is the lesser of $525 or the full tax owed.¹⁸

After You File

The IRS generally processes e-filed returns within 21 days.¹⁹ Check status with the “Where’s My Refund?” tool on IRS.gov or through the IRS2Go app; you’ll need your identification number, filing status, and the exact refund amount from your return.¹⁴ Status usually appears about 24 hours after the IRS accepts an e-filed return.

Direct deposit into a U.S. bank account is the fastest way to receive a refund, and you can use any account at a bank in the Federal Reserve System. Without a U.S. account, the IRS will mail a paper check, and 1040-NR filers can list a foreign mailing address for it.²⁰

Fixing a Mistake After Filing

If you find an error, correct it with Form 1040-X. You can now e-file an amended 1040-NR for the current or two prior tax years through tax software, or submit the amendment on paper.²¹ Typical reasons to amend: a treaty benefit you forgot to claim, a corrected W-2 or 1042-S that arrived after filing, or a wrong day count on Schedule OI.

1
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. 2026 Tax Filing Season Opens With Several Free Filing Options Available
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-NR (2025)
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-7 (12/2024)
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 871 – Tax on Nonresident Alien Individuals
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Internal Revenue Service. Nontaxable Types of Interest Income for Nonresident Aliens
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Internal Revenue Service. Nonresident – Figuring Your Tax
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-NR (2025)
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Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Schedule OI (Form 1040-NR)
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 894 – Income Affected by Treaty
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Internal Revenue Service. Nonresident Aliens – Dependents
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Internal Revenue Service. Validating Your Electronically Filed Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. Self-Select PIN Method for Forms 1040 and 4868 Modernized e-File (MeF)
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Internal Revenue Service. Refunds
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Internal Revenue Service. Taxation of Dual-Status Individuals
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 8843 – Statement for Exempt Individuals
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 4868 – Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 653, IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges
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Internal Revenue Service. Processing Status for Tax Forms
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Internal Revenue Service. Helpful Tips for Effectively Receiving a Tax Refund for Taxpayers Living Abroad
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Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return