Filing With No Income: The Difference Between Form 8843 and Form 1040-NR
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 19, 2026
Form 8843 is required every year you are in the US on F or J status, even with zero income. Form 1040-NR is only required if you actually earned US income. Confusing the two is a common mistake for new international students.
📩 Form 8843 reports no income and calculates no tax.
💵 Form 1040-NR reports US-source income and any tax owed after withholding.
🎓 No income at all still means you file Form 8843 alone.
🛂 Any US wages or taxable scholarship money means you file both forms.
⏱️ Both follow the deadline tied to the standard nonresident filing season.
Two forms that get mixed up constantly
New international students often hear "you have to file taxes" and assume it means preparing a full return with numbers and calculations. For many first-year students with no US income, the actual requirement is much simpler: one short informational form, not a tax return at all.
Form 8843: required regardless of income
IRS Publication 519 requires anyone excluding days of US presence as an exempt individual, including students, teachers, and trainees on F, J, M, or Q visas, to file a complete Form 8843 . This applies whether you earned a single dollar in the US or not.
The form asks for your visa type, your school or program, and the dates you were present. It does not ask about income, and it produces no tax bill.
If Form 8843 is the only form you owe, mail it on paper to the IRS address listed in the form's current instructions. There is no tax software requirement and no payment attached.
Form 1040-NR: only when you have US income
Form 1040-NR is the actual nonresident income tax return. The IRS requires it from anyone considered engaged in a trade or business in the US during the year with US-source income, or anyone with US income where the tax owed was not fully covered by withholding.
According to the IRS page for foreign students and scholars , no minimum dollar amount triggers this requirement. A taxable scholarship, a few weeks of on-campus pay, or treaty-exempt income you still need to report all mean you owe a 1040-NR, no matter how small the amount.
Foreign-source income, most US bank interest, and a fully tax-free scholarship covering only tuition and required fees generally do not create a filing requirement on their own. If that describes your entire financial picture for the year, you likely stay in the Form 8843-only category.
What counts as income for this purpose
Wages from any on-campus job, assistantship, CPT, or OPT position.
The part of a scholarship or fellowship that covers room, board, or living expenses rather than tuition and required fees.
Any US bank or investment income beyond the narrow categories the IRS excludes for nonresidents.
If any of these apply to you, plan on filing Form 1040-NR alongside Form 8843, not instead of it. The two forms answer different questions and both get filed once both apply.
Deadlines
Form 1040-NR follows a due date tied to whether you had wages subject to US withholding during the year. Form 8843 is due by that same date under Publication 519's instructions. Check the current Form 1040-NR instructions each year for the exact date, since it shifts slightly around weekends and holidays.
Three common situations
A first-semester student who arrived in August with no US job and no scholarship covering living costs beyond tuition files Form 8843 only. Nothing else is due.
A student with a part-time on-campus job earning wages from September through December files Form 8843 for the exempt-days claim and Form 1040-NR to report those wages, even if the total amount is small and even if withholding already covered the tax owed. Filing 1040-NR in that case can also be how you claim back any overpaid withholding.
A student whose scholarship exceeds tuition and required fees, with the excess covering housing or a stipend, treats that excess as taxable income. They file both forms as well, reporting the taxable portion on Form 1040-NR even though no employer withheld anything from a scholarship check.
Why the mix-up matters
Filing Form 1040-NR when you had no income wastes time and can create confusion if the return shows zero income against a form built for reporting income. Skipping Form 8843 when you owed only that form is the more common and more costly mistake, since it is easy to assume that no income means no filing obligation of any kind. The exempt individual days that Form 8843 documents affect the substantial presence test in every later year you stay in the US, so a missing year in that record can complicate figuring out your residency status down the line.
At a glance
| Situation | Form 8843 | Form 1040-NR |
|---|---|---|
| No US income at all | Required | Not required |
| Any taxable US income | Required | Required |
| Reports income or tax | No | Yes |
A simple test before you file
Ask yourself one question first: did any US source pay you money, or did a scholarship cover more than tuition and required fees, during the tax year. If the honest answer is no, Form 8843 alone covers you.
If the answer is yes, even for a small amount, plan on both forms. This single check resolves most of the confusion new students run into during their first tax season, before getting into treaty articles, withholding tables, or refund calculations that only matter once you know which forms apply to you in the first place.