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Departing Aliens and the Sailing or Departure Permit: U.S. Taxes for Noncitizens (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Departing Aliens and the Sailing or Departure Permit” within u.s. taxes for noncitizens. The following material presents the IRS treatment of this topic, including the qualifications, exceptions, and examples in the source section. Read the rules alongside the facts of your own situation before deciding what to report, deduct, or document.

Adapted from Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens, published by the Internal Revenue Service. This guide retains the source edition’s years, amounts, deadlines, and examples. It is guidance for that edition, not a statement that the same figures apply to every tax year.

Departing Aliens and the Sailing or Departure Permit

Introduction

Before leaving the United States, all aliens (except those listed later under Aliens Not Required To Obtain Sailing or Departure Permits) must obtain a certificate of compliance. This document, also popularly known as the sailing permit or departure permit, is part of the income tax form you must file before leaving. You will receive a sailing or departure permit after filing a Form 1040-C or Form 2063. These forms are discussed in this chapter.

To find out if you need a sailing or departure permit, first read Aliens Not Required To Obtain Sailing or Departure Permits, later. If you do not fall into one of the categories in that discussion, you must obtain a sailing or departure permit. Read Aliens Required To Obtain Sailing or Departure Permits, later.

Topics

This chapter discusses:

Who needs a sailing permit,
How to get a sailing permit, and
Forms you file to get a sailing permit.

Useful Items

You may want to see:

Form (and Instructions)

1040-C U.S. Departing Alien Income Tax Return
2063 U.S. Departing Alien Income Tax Statement

See chapter 12 for information about getting these forms.

Aliens Not Required To Obtain Sailing or Departure Permits

If you are included in one of the following categories, you do not have to get a sailing or departure permit before leaving the United States.

If you are in one of these categories and do not have to get a sailing or departure permit, you must be able to support your claim for exemption with proper identification or give the authority for the exemption.

Category 1.

Representatives of foreign governments with diplomatic passports, whether accredited to the United States or other countries, members of their households, and servants accompanying them. Servants who are leaving, but not with a person with a diplomatic passport, must get a sailing or departure permit. However, they can get a sailing or departure permit on Form 2063 without examination of their income tax liability by presenting a letter from the chief of their diplomatic mission certifying that:

Their name appears on the “White List” (a list of employees of diplomatic missions); and
They do not owe to the United States any income tax, and will not owe any tax up to and including the intended date of departure.

The statement must be presented to an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC) office.

Category 2.

Employees of international organizations and foreign governments (other than diplomatic representatives exempt under category 1) and members of their households:

Whose compensation for official services is exempt under U.S. tax law (described in chapter 10), and
Who receive no other income from U.S. sources.

Caution:

If you are an alien in category (1) or (2) above who filed the waiver under section 247(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, you must get a sailing or departure permit. This is true even if your income is exempt from U.S. tax because of an income tax treaty, consular agreement, or international agreement.

Category 3.

Alien students, industrial trainees, and exchange visitors, including their spouses and children, who enter on an “F-1,” “F-2,” “H-3,” “H-4,” “J-1,” “J-2,” or “Q” visa only and who receive no income from U.S. sources while in the United States under those visas other than:

Allowances to cover expenses incident to study or training in the United States, such as expenses for travel, maintenance, and tuition;
The value of any services or food and lodging connected with this study or training;
Income from employment authorized by the USCIS; or
Interest income on deposits that is not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. (See Interest Income in chapter 3.)

Category 4.

Alien students, including their spouses and children, who enter on an “M-1” or “M-2” visa only and who receive no income from U.S. sources while in the United States under those visas, other than:

Income from employment authorized by the USCIS, or
Interest income on deposits that is not effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business. (See Interest Income in chapter 3.)

Category 5.

Certain other aliens temporarily in the United States who have received no taxable income during the tax year up to and including the date of departure or during the preceding tax year. If the IRS has reason to believe that an alien has received income subject to tax and that the collection of income tax is jeopardized by departure, it may then require the alien to obtain a sailing or departure permit. Aliens in this category are:

Alien military trainees who enter the United States for training under the sponsorship of the Department of Defense and who leave the United States on official military travel orders;
Alien visitors for business on a “B-1” visa, or on both a “B-1” visa and a “B-2” visa, who do not remain in the United States or a U.S. territory for more than 90 days during the tax year;
Alien visitors for pleasure on a “B-2” visa;
Aliens in transit through the United States or any of its territories on a “C-1” visa, or under a contract, such as a bond agreement, between a transportation line and the Attorney General; and
Aliens who enter the United States on a border-crossing identification card or for whom passports, visas, and border-crossing identification cards are not required, if they are:
1. Visitors for pleasure,
2. Visitors for business who do not remain in the United States or a U.S. territory for more than 90 days during the tax year, or
3. In transit through the United States or any of its territories.

Category 6.

Alien residents of Canada or Mexico who frequently commute between that country and the United States for employment, and whose wages are subject to the withholding of U.S. tax.

Aliens Required To Obtain Sailing or Departure Permits

If you do not fall into one of the categories listed earlier under Aliens Not Required To Obtain Sailing or Departure Permits, you must obtain a sailing or departure permit. To obtain a permit, file Form 1040-C or Form 2063 (whichever applies) with your local TAC office before you leave the United States. See Forms To File, later. You must also pay all the tax shown as due on Form 1040-C and any taxes due for past years.

Getting a Sailing or Departure Permit

The following discussion covers how to get your sailing or departure permit.

When and Where To Get a Sailing or Departure Permit

To get a certificate of compliance, you must go to a TAC office at least 2 weeks before you leave the United States and file either Form 2063 or Form 1040-C and any other required tax returns that have not been filed. The certificate may not be issued more than 30 days before you leave. If both you and your spouse are aliens and both of you are leaving the United States, both of you must go to the TAC office.

Caution:

Note that all TAC offices operate by appointment. Make sure you call for an appointment well before the time frame mentioned above. Services are limited and not all services are available at every TAC office. Call 844-545-5640 to schedule an appointment. For more information regarding your local TAC office, go to IRS.gov/TAC.

Documents To Submit

Getting your sailing or departure permit will go faster if you bring to the TAC office documents and papers related to your income and your stay in the United States. For more information regarding what records to bring, see Papers To Submit in the Instructions for Form 1040-C.

Forms To File

If you must get a sailing or departure permit, you must file Form 2063 or Form 1040-C. Both forms have a “certificate of compliance” section. When the certificate of compliance is signed by an agent of the Field Assistance Area Director, it certifies that your U.S. tax obligations have been satisfied according to available information. Your Form 1040-C copy of the signed certificate, or the one detached from Form 2063, is your sailing or departure permit.

For information regarding these forms, see the Instructions for Form 1040-C, in general, and specifically the following headings.

Forms To File.
Returning to the United States.
Joint return on Form 1040-C.
Paying Taxes and Obtaining Refunds.
Filling annual U.S. income tax returns.

Using the guidance

Keep the documents that establish the dates, amounts, and circumstances described above. References to other chapters, forms, worksheets, or earlier and later sections refer to the linked IRS publication. Check the full publication and its updates before relying on a rule for a different tax year or a situation not addressed here.

Sources and further reading

Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens: Departing Aliens and the Sailing or Departure Permit — Internal Revenue Service; 2025 edition.

The cited U.S. government text is in the public domain. Source accessed October 28, 2026. Fynoptic has organized this material for educational use and is independent of, and not endorsed by, the IRS.

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