Form H-1040(R: Fill & Download for Free

Disclaimer: I am not a tax consultant and this is completely my own take on the matter.Filing for tax in OPT can be tricky because of the sheer number of rules and conditions that apply when you are an 'alien' and also 'student'. I will try to cover the basics.The first thing that you want to check is your tax residency. Now tax residency is completely differet from your immigration status in US as considered by USCIS and other federal institutions. Here is the link for webpage from IRS that has all the rules to determine your tax residency.Determining Alien Tax StatusThe Substantial Presence Test part has been explained very well by Xuan, so do read it.Now if you are on OPT then generally you would fall under these three categories:1. You are on OPT as of 31st December or last date of your stay in USA. In this case you will be a non-resident alien for tax purpose. The form you should be looking for 1040NR or 1040 NR EZ, the first one is for itemized deductions and the 2nd one for standard deduction. Now if you happen to be from India, you are still able to claim standard deduction (for single person born after 1st January 1950, it is $6200) because India has a Tax Treaty with USA (US India Income Tax Treaty - Article 21) that allows students to claim standard deduction. This needs to be mentioned in Point 11 of 1040 NR-EZ form. As mentioned by Xuan here, the easiest way to file is to use Glacier Tax Preparation software. Here is the link for Glacier. Glacier automatically does Form 8843 for you. Many schools offer this software for free to their students, so do check out your international office or registrar's office.GLACIER Tax Prep - Home2. You are on OPT but you have been student for more than five years in USA.You have established tax residency so you can use form 1040 (itemized) or 1040 EZ (standard) to file your tax return. You can also use popular software such as TurboTax and H&R Block. There are many discounts available for TurboTax and H&R blocks such as Discover Card and State Farm members; so do explore.3. You were on OPT till 30th September and you are on H1b from 1st October.This one is crazy, so hang tight. Glacier will consider you as a non-resident alien and do a 1040 NR-EZ. I went through the form 519 of IRS (Page on irs.gov ) and as I understood, you also need to complete form 8843 along with 1040 NR-EZ. However you can not claim the tax treaty benefit anymore because you were on H1b visa on the last day of your stay in USA. You can still claim an amount of $3950 as an individual exemption. (Point 13 of 1040 NR-EZ). You are probably better off with doing an itemized deduction in this scenario which may be well above $3950, with form 1040NR. Even though your question is how to do it by yourself, I would advice you to seek a reputed tax consultant if you fall in the third category and go with Itemized Deductions with form 1040NR. If you want to do it yourself, the schedule of items that can be deducted is different from what a Resident Alien can, so read the instructions:http://www.Internal Revenue Service/pub/irs-pdf/i1040nr.pdfWhen you are talking to your consultant make sure that he/she understands filing for non-residents well. If someone is claiming he/she can get you way above what others are telling, I would stay away from them.You may have to file FBAR also. Read the instructions here: Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).Finally, I would say chances that your IT return will be audited by IRS is fairly low, but an my advice is avoid incorrect filing. The larger the sum of your return, the higher is your risk of being audited. Best of luck! :)Edit: I put this together long back, and tax rules have changed. Please refer to the current tax laws for filing your return. Thanks!

I don't follow.The system in both countries is basically the same.Your employer pays you wages with tax deducted. (in UK that is called PAYE (Pay As You Earn).Then at the end of the tax year you file a tax return personal (in the USA = 1040, in the UK self assessment).That includes deductions, allowances and and changes.The difference is that in US you must file the form, in the UK you may not need to bother.In both countries then you pay the money you owe, or you get a refund.In UK, that form is then used to adjust for the next year the tax you pay every month that is deducted as PAYEEdit:As per Stephen Tempest for av lot of people that means you don't need to file a return.Self Assessment tax returns"You usually won’t need to send a return if your only income is from your wages or pension"The deductions are different to USA (eg you can't claim mortgage interest) but the principle is the same (eg you can claim proferessional fees, or etc)The big difference is you only do one return: no state tax. Oh, and no AMT.The UK system is simpler than US.HMRC website is surprisingly good & quite clear - vasstly better than US IRS.That is why few people bother with TurboTax and you don't see the array of H&R Bloch offices - we don't need them.That said, if you have just moved, you might want to get an accountant to do it. You might find some moving expenses & relocation can be claimed? It won't cost much.

For a 2013 return,1.) The first thing you want to do is get a transcript for yourself. You can do this here: Get Transcript2.) Then, read the 1040 instructions for the year you want to file:Form 1040 Instructions for 20133.) Then, you can eitherA) Buy tax prep software like:Turbotax: 2013 Tax Preparation for Past Years’ TaxesAmazon.com: H&R Block Tax Software 2013 Deluxe [OLD VERSION]: Software...among others.B) Or, you can download forms from the IRS page itself depending on what you need.Form 1040 - Main Form. You may need to attach additional schedules only if applicable.Schedule A - For Itemizing DeductionsSchedule C - To declare business income and expensesSchedule SE - To calculate self-employment taxesSchedule E - To declare rental real estate income and expensesPrior Year Products - Complete list...among othersAnd, prepare your State tax return if applicable. You should also be able to download the necessary forms from your State's Department of Revenue website. For example, if you live in Illinois, you can get those forms here: 2013 Individual Income Tax Forms for Illinois