Welcome!

The rules for claiming exemptions and determining the correct filing status were covered in the Personal Exemptions, Dependency Exemptions, and Filing Status lessons. This lesson addresses filing status issues you may encounter when assisting taxpayers who are not U.S. citizens.

This lesson also covers exemption issues related to taxpayers who may have:

• A nonresident alien spouse, or
• Nonresident alien stepchildren (children of a nonresident spouse of a U.S. citizen or resident alien)

This lesson does not cover the preparation of returns for taxpayers who are in the U.S. on an F, J, M, or Q visa. Refer taxpayers with one of these visas to a volunteer who is certified to prepare tax returns for foreign students or to a professional tax preparer.