Deductions

Resident and nonresident aliens can claim similar deductions on their U.S. tax returns. However, nonresident aliens generally can claim only deductions related to income that is effectively connected with their U.S. trade or business.

Resident Aliens

You can claim the same deductions allowed to U.S. citizens if you are a resident alien for the entire tax year. While the discussion that follows contains some of the same general rules and guidelines that apply to you, it is specifically directed toward nonresident aliens. You should get Form 1040 and instructions for more information on how to claim your allowable deductions.

Nonresident Aliens

You can claim deductions to figure your effectively connected taxable income. You generally cannot claim deductions related to income that is not connected with your U.S. business activities. Except for personal exemptions, and certain itemized deductions, discussed later, you can claim deductions only to the extent they are connected with your effectively connected income.

Ordinary and necessary business expenses. You can deduct all ordinary and necessary expenses in the operation of your U.S. trade or business to the extent they relate to income effectively connected with that trade or business. The deduction for travel expenses while in the United States is discussed under Itemized Deductions, later. For information about other business expenses, see Publication 535.

Losses. You can deduct losses resulting from transactions that you entered into for profit and that you were not reimbursed for by insurance, etc., to the extent that they relate to income that is effectively connected with a trade or business in the United States.

Individual retirement arrangement (IRA). You may qualify to establish a traditional IRA whether or not you are covered by a qualified retirement plan at work. You can contribute the smaller of $2,000 or your taxable compensation effectively connected with your U.S. trade or business to an IRA for 2001. If you or your spouse are covered by a plan at work, or you are self-employed and had a SEP, SIMPLE, or qualified retirement plan, you can only deduct these contributions subject to certain limits.

For more information, see Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

Moving expenses. If you are a nonresident alien temporarily in the United States earning taxable income for performing personal services, you can deduct moving expenses to the United States if you meet both of the following tests.

1. You are a full-time employee for at least 39 weeks during the 12 months right after you move, or if you are self-employed, you work full time for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months and 78 weeks during the first 24 months right after you move.
2. Your new job location is at least 50 miles farther (by the shortest commonly traveled route) from your former home than your former job location was. If you had no former job location, the new job location must be at least 50 miles from your former home.

You cannot deduct the moving expense you have when returning to your home abroad or moving to a foreign job site.

Figure your deductible moving expenses to the United States on Form 3903, and deduct them on line 27 of Form 1040NR.

For more information on the moving expense deduction, see Publication 521.

Reimbursements. If you were reimbursed by your employer for allowable moving expenses, your employer should have excluded these reimbursements from your income. You can only deduct allowable moving expenses that were not reimbursed by your employer or that were reimbursed but the reimbursement was included in your income. For more information, see Publication 521.

Moving expense or travel expense. If you deduct moving expenses to the United States, you cannot also deduct travel expenses ( discussed, later, under Itemized Deductions) while temporarily away from your tax home in a foreign country. Moving expenses are based on a change in your principal place of business while travel expenses are based on your temporary absence from your principal place of business.

Self-employed SEP, SIMPLE, and qualified retirement plans. If you are self-employed, you may be able to deduct contributions to a SEP, SIMPLE, or qualified retirement plan that provides retirement benefits for yourself and your common-law employees, if any. To make deductible contributions for yourself, you must have net earnings from self-employment that are effectively connected with your U.S. trade or business.

Get Publication 560, Retirement Plans for Small Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans), for further information.

Penalty on early withdrawal of savings. You must include in income all effectively connected interest income you receive or that is credited to your account during the year. Do not reduce it by any penalty you must pay on an early withdrawal from a time savings account. However, if the interest income is effectively connected with your U.S. trade or business during the year, you can deduct on line 30 of Form 1040NR the amount of the early withdrawal penalty that the banking institution charged.

Student loan interest. If you paid interest on a student loan in 2001, you may be able to deduct up to $2,500 of the interest you paid. Generally, you can claim the deduction if all of the following requirements are met.

1. Your filing status is any filing status except married filing separately.
2. Your modified adjusted gross income is less than $55,000.
3. No one else is claiming an exemption for you on their tax return.
4. You paid interest on a loan taken out only to pay tuition and other qualified higher education expenses for yourself, your spouse, or someone who was your dependent when the loan was taken out.
5. The education expenses were paid or incurred within a reasonable period of time before or after the loan was taken out.
6. The person for whom the expenses were paid or incurred was an eligible student.
7. The first 60 months in which interest payments were required on the loan did not end before January 2001.

For more information, see Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Higher Education.