Internal Revenue Service United States Department of the Treasury
Level Basic Advanced Military International

Unique Filing Situations Workout

Skills Workout

Certification Warm Up: Drill & Practice

  1. Is a person who holds an alien registration card considered to be a lawful permanent resident of the United States?
  2. Juan is a citizen of the Philippines and does not have a green card. He came to the United States for the first time two years ago on November 1, and was here for 30 days. The following year, Juan was in the United States for 60 days. Juan returned to the Philippines and came back to the United States on September 1, of the current tax year. He stayed in the United States for the rest of the year. Does Juan meet the substantial presence test for the current tax year?
  3. Julio Isanti was a resident alien on December 31 of the tax year, and married to Mary, a nonresident alien. Can they choose to treat Mary as a resident alien and file a joint income tax return?
  4. Paul Stone, a U.S. citizen, is married to a Chinese citizen. Their daughter was born in China during the tax year. Does his daughter meet the citizen/resident test?
  5. Lilith, a U.S. citizen, lives in Japan. She is married to Kenji, a Japanese citizen who has never been in the United States, and the couple has never elected to treat Kenji as a resident alien for tax purposes. They have two children, for whom they provide total support. Lilith has decided that using the Head of Household filing status on her tax return would result in a lower tax. Can Lilith file as Head of Household?
  6. Jay is in the U.S. Army in Germany. His wife and children live with him and he is able to claim the children as dependents. Jay's wife (a citizen of Germany) chooses to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes.

    Jay meets all of the qualifications for Head of Household. Even though he is married, can he claim Head of Household status (assuming he meets the other requirements for filing as Head of Household)?
Publication 4012, Resident or Nonresident Alien Decision Tree
Publication 4012, Determination of Filing Status—Decision Chart
Publication 4012, Overview of Rules for claiming a dependent

Publication 4012, Resident or Nonresident Alien Decision Tree

Publication 4012, Determination of Filing Status—Decision Chart

Publication 4012, Overview of Rules for claiming a dependent