QN: Have you claimed as "nonresident" for filing Federal or state, local taxes?

C

CrossHairs

Registered Users (C)
There is a question in the N-400 that says: *After* becoming a legal permanent resident, "Have you claimed as "nonresident" for filing Federal or state, local taxes?"

I have always filed form 1040 which is what GC holders file.
I used to live in California and used to file CA-540.

For the year that I moved out of California, I had to file 540-NR.
Reading the above question, I was concerned why I filed NR...
But I looked at http://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/index.html
and it says that 540NR - California part-year and nonresident income tax return and instructions.

I was a part-year CA resident, and therefore I had to file 540NR - seems the "NR" is just the form name that CA uses for both Part-year and nonresidents to file...nothing to do with "green card" or non-resident.

So, short question:
I answer NO to the N-400 question, correct (meaning I have NEVER filed as a nonresident on Federal, state or local tax return). Is that accurate?

Thanks for your help.
 
Non resident refers to those who may have dual citizenship status so they pay taxes both here and to their home country.

And it ONLY refers to filing 1040 for the Feds. It is possible to file as resident for one state and partial year resident or NR for state tax purposes.

I hope this helps!
 
CrossHairs,

I am dealing with the exact same question (see my post at: http://www.immigrationportal.com/showthread.php?t=257682). I filed CA-540NR intentionally because I was a part year resident of the state of California (I had moved to another state in the USA). I was hoping to obtain guidance from the attorney I consulted with (at a $150+ value for 30 minutes) but the attorney was unaware that this applied to state tax returns. When I pointed out the exact phrasing of the question on the N-400 he was surprised and commented something to the effect "Oh, it's for federal, state and local...I was not aware of this". Upon giving it a thought for 1-2 minutes, his response was to answer in affirmative to this question.

For the same year, I filed the federal 1040.

It seems logical to answer this question in negative since I was claiming to be a part year resident but as you point out California has just one form called CA-540NR for both non residents and part year residents. In any case, even being a non resident of the state of California should not be a matter as long as you filed the federal 1040.

However, if I am unable to find a good attorney, I plan to answer "Yes" and provide an explanation at the time of the interview.

I think it is prudent to be cautious and answer in a straight-forward manner rather than reading too much into the questions or analyzing it in too much detail.

Hope this helps.
 
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hi

Hi,

I was confused just like you by the word "Non resident". someone from this borad explained to me.

When they say non resident they mean have you been out of country and NOT out of state. It is natural that you may move from one state to another but that does not make you non resident for USA it makes you non resident for the state.

They ask this to ascertain if you broke the continuous residence requirement.

From your post it is not clear to me if you stayed out of state or out of country. If you stayed out of state and filed NR return for state, it is non issue and you should answer NO.

but if you stayed out of country and thereby filed a non resident return, I believe you should answer YES and then they will scruytinize more.

Just my 2 cents..

In my situation...I filed a NR return for NY state as my co made a booboo while creating W2. so I was concerned..but since it is for state..I said NO.

Hope this helps.
 
As long as one files "resident" taxes for "a" state (unless you live in a state where there is no state income tax), it makes no difference if one files "non-resident" state returns for a second (or multiple) state(s). The most critical is the federal return. If those are "resident", I don't think any USCIS officer will raise an eyebrow.
 
I was within USA, just moved to a different state and that is why had to file 540-NR since that is the form CA uses for Part-Year CA residents. Yes, 1040 was the "resident" Federal return.

Immigrateful: I thought I was careful :)
But I think there are lots here who are more careful :)
If you were within USA, then I agree with some of the folks above, that we can mark NO to the question (my opinion, me no lawyer!)
 
I was in TX (no state tax) and moved to VA in middle of the year. I have filled state part-year form (
Even though forms are same the detailed you mentioned in forms are different) and 1040 form.

I answered 'NO'

Here is definition of state

Non-Residents

A nonresident is a person who is not a domiciliary or actual resident of Virginia, but who received income from Virginia sources during the taxable year.

Part-Year Residents
An individual who establishes or abandons Virginia as his or her state of legal residence during the taxable year is a part-year resident. The primary factor in determining eligibility for part-year residency status is your intent with respect to establishing or abandoning legal residence. As a general rule, if you move out of Virginia and return to the state within six months, you have not demonstrated intent to establish residency in another state. Other situations in which individuals would not be considered to have abandoned their Virginia domicile include:
 
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I actually brought this up during my interview. I used to live in Rhode Island and work in Mass. I paid resident state taxes to RI (jointly with my wife) and NR taxes to Mass (filing individually - April was always a complicated month).

I pointed out that I had filed NR state taxes - and that I was required to do so. The IO laughed and said (roughly), "no problem, we really only care about NR federal taxes".
 
Similarly, I filed Maryland state taxes as a non-resident for a year that I was still officially domiciled in Florida. The issue never came up for discussion during interview, so I'd conclude its not really a big deal. The same would not of course be true if you filed your federal return as non-resident of the US.... that would be bad!
 
Crosshairs,

In a very recent consultation with a well know attorney, I was told unambiguously to answer "Yes" to that question OR make amends, re-file that return with the IRS with CA-540 (and pay the difference) and then answer "No" on the N-400.
 
immigrateful said:
Crosshairs,

In a very recent consultation with a well know attorney, I was told unambiguously to answer "Yes" to that question OR make amends, re-file that return with the IRS with CA-540 (and pay the difference) and then answer "No" on the N-400.
Click to expand...

Immigrateful,
If you are a part year resident of California, and moved out of CA during middle of the year to another state, then how can you refile with CA-540.

If you moved out of CA, then you can only file CA-540 NR which is the part year resident form.

Do you disagree?
 
I moved from another state to CA & had the same issue.
Have passed interview w/o any issues. This NR is NOT the NR they are asking about - that is being NR as in living in another COUNTRY...
another state does not matter. My lawyer said the same as well.
 
You are right - you (and I and everyone else in a similar situation) are stuck with CA-540NR even if you are trying to say you are a part year resident. So re-filing is out of question.

In short, I will have to answer as Yes and then explain during the interview and possibily change it to a No.

My attorney wanted me to avoid creating an impression that I was not volunteering truthful information (regardless of the differences in the definition of NR for IRS purposes and for USCIS purposes).

Needless to say, I find this counter-intuitive myself but I do not want to take chances.

If your case is straight forward and this is the only problem area, you might get away with answering No.
 
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immigrateful,
You should answer NO. & if he asks to look at tax document, mention that the NR is for state.
IO's are intelligent, they wont have an issue with a state NR at all. In fact he wont even question you.

If you answer Yes, he *will* question you. Not worth answering Yes, IMHO
 
Immi,
Either way is not an issue. Since you are using an attorney, you do what the attorney says to be consistent. He will provide you with the explanation required should IO ask you anything. That will be fine too.

Either way you are ok.
 
sammySam,

My situation is slightly different - I have other issues with my N-400 (CR, AC21) so according to my attorney, my application is going to be scrutinized anyway. Again according to my attorney, after scrutinizing closely, if the IO finds I've said No when the correct answer should have been a Yes, he might think I'm lying and this leads to a question of moral character and so on.

That's why I don't want to take any chances. Things might be different for other people who do not have any other issues or red flags.
 
In my case, on the day before my interview I was going through my application. I noticed that I had marked "No" - which made sense, to me the question really asked "have you ever signed any tax form (federal, state or local) and claimed to be a non-resident of the US". But, then I realized that I had filed non-resident state taxes for years (as I was obliged to do).

So, as the interview started up, I said "by the way, on question XX, even though I marked 'no', I did file NR state taxes for several year - because of my situation, that is what the law required." The IO said something like "but you never claimed to be a US non-resident?" I said "of course not". That was the end of that.

If you are worried about "lying" on the form, bring the point up proactively during the interview so that your truth is out their before the IO can see a contradiction. But, other than the USCIS dicking around with my application for more than a year (no name check, just USCIS incompetence), my application was as normal as apple pie - I had absolutely no red flags.
 
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