How to Use the 1040-NR Tax Table for Nonresident Aliens

The 1040-NR tax table is the same graduated table U.S. citizens and residents use, published each year in IRS Publication 1040 for taxable income under $100,000.¹ To use it, take your taxable income from line 15 of Form 1040-NR, find the $50 row that brackets that number, read across to the column for your filing status, and enter that dollar amount on line 16. The lookup takes about thirty seconds. Getting the number on line 15 right, and knowing when the table does not apply to you at all, is where nonresident filers actually spend their time.

Reading the Table

The table is organized in $50 increments with two boundary columns labeled “At least” and “But less than.” Find the row that brackets your taxable income from line 15. If line 15 reads $45,230, the correct row is “at least $45,200” and “but less than $45,250.”¹ Move across to the column matching your filing status. The number sitting at that intersection is your federal income tax. Copy it to line 16 of Form 1040-NR.²

Everyone within the same $50 window and filing status pays the same amount. The table already accounts for the progressive bracket structure, so no calculation is required. The pre-computed amounts reflect each bracket applied to the midpoint of the $50 range.

Getting Line 15 Right Before the Lookup

Line 15 is your effectively connected income minus your allowable deductions.² Every dollar of error here flows straight through to your tax liability, so this step matters more than the table lookup itself.

No Standard Deduction for Most Filers

This is where nonresident filers usually run into trouble. Unlike U.S. residents, you generally cannot claim the standard deduction. You must itemize on Schedule A (Form 1040-NR), and you can only deduct expenses connected to your effectively connected income. Allowable itemized deductions include state and local income taxes, charitable contributions to U.S. nonprofits, and casualty or theft losses from a federally declared disaster.³ Students and business apprentices from India are the sole exception; they may claim the standard deduction under Article 21 of the U.S.-India Income Tax Treaty.

Treaty Adjustments

If a tax treaty between your country and the United States reduces the tax on any of your income, apply that reduction before you look up the tax. Claiming a treaty-based position that reduces your tax generally requires you to attach Form 8833 to disclose it, and the penalty for failing to disclose when required is $1,000 per failure.⁴⁵ Skip this step and you either overpay the IRS or underpay and face penalties later.

Which Filing-Status Column Applies

Your filing status determines the column you read. Nonresident aliens have fewer options than residents: single, married filing separately, and qualifying surviving spouse. Federal law generally bars nonresident aliens from filing a joint return.⁶ Head of household is also unavailable to most nonresident filers, because a nonresident spouse does not count as a qualifying person.⁷

Most nonresident filers therefore end up in the “single” or “married filing separately” columns, both of which have narrower brackets and higher effective rates than “married filing jointly.” One workaround exists if you are married to a U.S. citizen or resident: under Section 6013(g), both spouses can elect to treat the nonresident spouse as a U.S. resident for the entire year, which unlocks joint filing.⁶ The catch is that your worldwide income then becomes taxable by the United States. For high earners with significant foreign income, the trade-off can easily backfire.

Your filing status is based on your legal situation as of December 31 of the tax year. If you were legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree by that date, you file as single, not married filing separately.

When Taxable Income Is $100,000 or More

If line 15 is $100,000 or higher, the tax table does not cover you. Use the Tax Computation Worksheet in the Form 1040 instructions instead, applying the rate schedule for your filing status.¹ This is a short calculation rather than a lookup.

For 2026, the federal tax brackets for single filers (the most common status for nonresident aliens) are:

10% on taxable income up to $12,400
12% from $12,400 to $50,400
22% from $50,400 to $105,700
24% from $105,700 to $201,775
32% from $201,775 to $256,225
35% from $256,225 to $640,600
37% on income over $640,600

Married filing separately uses identical brackets through the 32% tier, but the 35% bracket caps at $384,350 and the 37% rate applies above that.⁸

The worksheet has you multiply only the portion of income in each bracket by that bracket’s rate, then add the results. A single filer with $150,000 in taxable income would owe $17,966 plus 24% of the amount over $105,700. That works out to $17,966 + ($44,300 × 0.24) = $28,598. The IRS rate schedule provides the base amount, so you only need one multiplication and one addition.⁹

Income That Skips the Table Entirely

Not all income on your 1040-NR runs through the graduated brackets. U.S.-source income that is not effectively connected with a trade or business faces a flat 30% tax under a separate regime. The statute imposes this rate on dividends, interest, rents, royalties, and other passive income from U.S. sources.¹⁰ This income is reported on Schedule NEC (Form 1040-NR), not on page one of the return, and is not part of the taxable income figure you use with the tax table.¹¹

In most cases, the payor withholds the 30% before you receive the money. If your country has a treaty that reduces the rate on a specific type of income, the reduced rate applies. Some treaties cut the dividend withholding rate to 15% or zero. If the full 30% was withheld but a treaty entitles you to less, you claim the difference as a refund on your 1040-NR and disclose the position on Form 8833.

Capital gains follow their own rules. If you were in the United States for fewer than 183 days during the tax year, gains from selling stocks or other portfolio investments are generally not taxable at all. Spend 183 days or more in the country and those gains become subject to the 30% flat rate. Real estate gains are always taxed as effectively connected income under FIRPTA, regardless of days present.

Filing Deadlines

Your deadline depends on the type of income you earned. If you received wages subject to U.S. income tax withholding or maintained an office or place of business in the United States, the return is due April 15 following the close of the tax year. If neither applies and your U.S. income was passive, you get an automatic extension to June 15.¹² In either case, you can request an additional extension to October 15 by filing Form 4868.

Payment is not as forgiving. Any tax owed is due by your original filing date, whether that is April 15 or June 15. The failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid balance for each month or partial month it remains outstanding, up to 25%, and interest accrues on top.¹³ Filing an extension buys time for the paperwork; it does not pause the penalty clock on unpaid tax.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1040 – Tax and Earned Income Credit Tables
2
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Form 1040-NR
3
Internal Revenue Service. Nonresident — Figuring Your Tax
4
Internal Revenue Service. Claiming Tax Treaty Benefits
5
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8833, Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b)
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6013 – Joint Returns of Income Tax by Husband and Wife
7
Internal Revenue Service. U.S. Citizens and Residents Abroad – Head of Household
8
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
9
Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 871 – Tax on Nonresident Alien Individuals
11
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return
12
Internal Revenue Service. Taxation of Nonresident Aliens
13
Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty