What is included in the fee for 1040-nr non-resident return?
The non-resident US return, with income separated between the net-basis and gross-basis systems and any treaty position claimed and, where required, disclosed.
What would make 1040-nr non-resident return cost more than the standard tier?
Whether there is US business activity as well as passive income. Two rate systems on one return is the work; a single withheld dividend stream is not.
Is the fee really fixed?
Yes, for the scope quoted. If the scope changes — another year appears, an entity turns up, a certificate becomes necessary — we re-quote before doing the work, so there is never an invoice you have not already agreed to.
How much does a 1040-NR cost if I only had US rental income?
The fee is quoted in writing from your own documents before any work starts, so you will have the figure before you commit rather than as a range now. What moves it on a rental file is the number of properties, whether the election to be taxed on a net basis is already in place or has to be made, whether depreciation claimed in earlier years can be traced, and whether a state return travels with the federal one. A single property with clean records and a prior year to work from sits at the simpler end. If the scope changes once the papers are in front of us, we re-quote before continuing.
Do I need to file a 1040-NR if tax was already withheld?
Often yes, and it is usually in your favour. Withholding at source is applied to a gross amount without regard to your expenses or to any lower rate a treaty allows, so the sum taken is frequently more than the tax actually due. The return is the mechanism by which that is worked out and the excess reclaimed; without it, the withholding simply stands as the final tax. There are cases where withholding genuinely is final and no return is required, which is why the first step is identifying which system the income falls under before anything is prepared.
Is a state return included in the fixed fee for a 1040-NR?
Only if it is in the scope you agreed. State filing obligations are separate from the federal one and do not always follow it: income can be taxable in a state where no federal return would be needed, and a property sale in particular can bring a state filing and a separate state withholding of its own. When the engagement is quoted, the returns it covers are named, so there is no assumption to unpick later. If a state obligation emerges once the records are in front of us, we re-quote for it before doing the work rather than after it.
The buyer withheld tax when I sold my US property, can I get it back?
Frequently, at least in part. Withholding on a sale by a non-resident is calculated on the sale price rather than on the gain, so where the property had appreciated modestly, or not at all, the amount held back routinely exceeds the tax due. Recovering the difference means filing the non-resident return for the year of sale, with the purchase documents, the improvement costs and the settlement statements behind it. There is also a route to reduce the withholding before closing rather than reclaim it afterwards, but it has to be applied for in advance, which is why a sale is worth discussing before it completes.
Can you give me a price before I send my documents?
We would rather see the documents first, because a fixed fee quoted against a description is a fee that gets revised. Send what you already have, last year's return if there is one, the withholding statements, the closing papers on a sale, and the quote comes back in writing against that specific set. It is fixed before work starts, and if the scope turns out to differ from what the papers showed, we re-quote and you decide before anything further is prepared. Nothing is filed until you have reviewed the finished return.
I have several years of unfiled 1040-NR returns, where do I start?
With the earliest year, and with the records rather than the returns. Each year stands on its own facts, but the years are linked: a carried figure, a depreciation history, or a treaty position taken once tends to govern what follows, so preparing the most recent year first usually means preparing it twice. We establish which years are genuinely required before preparing any of them, which is often fewer than a client fears. The quote covers the whole set, in writing, before work starts, and the outcome is a filed sequence with one consistent position running through it.
What is Form 1042-S and what do I do with it?
The statement a US payer issues to a non-resident showing US-source income paid and tax withheld — the non-resident counterpart to a 1099. Use it two ways. In your own country it evidences the US tax paid for credit purposes. And where the rate withheld was higher than your treaty entitlement, or the income was not taxable at all, the way back to the money is a US non-resident return claiming the refund. Check the income and exemption codes before assuming the rate was right. See Form 1042-S.
How does the treaty tie-breaker work when both countries say I am resident?
As a sequence, stopping at the first test that gives an answer: where you have a permanent home available; if in both or neither, where your centre of vital interests is; then habitual abode; then nationality; and if all of those tie, the two tax authorities decide by agreement. It is evidential rather than elective — you do not choose your treaty residence, you demonstrate it, which makes the record of homes, family and time the substance of the claim. See tie-breaking dual residency.
