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Closer connection exception calculator

Even if you meet the Substantial Presence Test, the closer-connection exception (IRS Form 8840) can keep you a US nonresident for the year. Enter your actual US days and ties to check eligibility. Everything runs in your browser.

When the closer-connection exception applies

If you would otherwise be a US resident under the Substantial Presence Test, you can still be treated as a nonresident for the year by claiming the closer-connection exception — but all three conditions must hold:

• you were present in the US fewer than 183 actual days in the current year,
• you maintained a tax home in another country, and
• you had a closer connection to that country than to the US.

At 183 or more actual current-year days, the exception is unavailable. It is claimed by filing Form 8840, and it is the mechanism many Canadian snowbirds rely on. It does not apply if you have taken steps toward a green card.

What is Form 8840?

IRS Form 8840, the Closer Connection Exception Statement, is the annual filing that lets someone who meets the Substantial Presence Test by day count still be taxed as a nonresident: fewer than 183 actual US days in the current year, a tax home in another country, and a closer connection to it. It is filed by June 15 of the following year, on its own or with a 1040-NR.

Form 8840 for Canadian snowbirds: how to fill it out

For a typical Canadian snowbird wintering in the US, Form 8840 has four parts. Part I is identity and visa basics. Part II is the day count: your US days for the current year and the two prior years. This is where an accurate day log matters, because the weighted three-year total is what put you over the Substantial Presence Test in the first place. Part III names your tax home (for snowbirds, Canada) for the year. Part IV is the closer-connection questionnaire: where your permanent home, family, belongings, driver's licence, and voting registration are. File it by June 15 of the following year: on its own if you owe no US return, or attached to a 1040-NR if you do.

The whole form stands or falls on the day counts in Part II, counted under the "any part of a day" standard. That is exactly what SpyglassBeacon tracks automatically for snowbirds, so the numbers are ready when the form is.

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