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Tax Returns of Aliens — Resident Aliens: Military Taxes (2025 IRS Guide)

This guide covers “Tax Returns of Aliens — Resident Aliens” within military taxes. 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 3 (2025), Armed Forces' Tax Guide, 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.

Context for these rules

For tax purposes, an alien is an individual who isn't a U.S. citizen. An alien is in one of the three categories discussed below: resident, nonresident, or dual-status. Placement in the correct category is crucial in determining what income to report and what forms to file.

Tax Returns of Aliens — Resident Aliens

What are the tax consequences of being a resident alien?

Generally, resident aliens are taxed on their worldwide income and file the same tax forms as U.S. citizens.

Am I a resident alien?

You are considered a resident alien of the United States for tax purposes if you meet either the “green card test” or the “substantial presence test” for the calendar year (January 1–December 31).

First-year choice.

If you do not meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test for the calendar year 2025, you may be able to choose to be treated as a U.S. resident for part of 2025 if you:

  • Did not meet either the green card test or the substantial presence test in 2024,

  • Did not choose to be treated as a resident for part of 2024, and

  • Meet the substantial presence test for 2026.

See First-Year Choice in Pub. 519. These tests are explained in Pub. 519.

Treating nonresident alien spouse as resident alien.

A nonresident alien spouse can be treated as a resident alien if all the following conditions are met.

  • One spouse is a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the tax year.

  • That spouse is married to the nonresident alien at the end of the tax year.

  • You both choose to treat the nonresident alien spouse as a resident alien.

Making the choice.

Both you and your spouse must sign a statement and attach it to your joint return for the first tax year for which the choice applies. Include in the statement:

  • A declaration that one spouse was a nonresident alien and the other was a U.S. citizen or resident alien on the last day of the year;

  • A declaration that both spouses choose to be treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year; and

  • The name, address, and taxpayer identification number (SSN or ITIN) of each spouse. If the nonresident alien spouse isn't eligible to get an SSN, they should file Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. For more details regarding this statement and on making this election, see Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident in chapter 1 of Pub. 519.

  • If you and your spouse choose to treat a nonresident alien or dual-status alien spouse as a U.S. resident for 2025, or if a prior year's choice to treat a nonresident alien spouse as a U.S. resident remains in effect for 2025, check the box in the Filing Status section. See the Instructions for Form 1040 for more information.

Tip:

Once you make this choice, the nonresident alien spouse's worldwide income is subject to U.S. tax. If the nonresident alien spouse has substantial foreign income, there may be no advantage to making this choice. Also, if you make this election, you may forfeit the right to claim benefits otherwise available under a U.S. tax treaty.

Ending the choice.

Once you make this choice, it applies to all later years unless one of the following situations occurs.

  • You or your spouse revokes the choice.

  • You or your spouse dies.

  • You and your spouse become legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance.

  • The IRS ends the choice because you or your spouse kept inadequate records.

For specific details on these situations, see Pub. 519.

If the choice is ended for any of these reasons, neither spouse can make the choice for any later year.

Choice not made.

If you and your nonresident alien spouse don't make this choice, the following restrictions apply.

  • You can't file a joint return. You can file as married filing separately, or head of household if you qualify.

  • The nonresident alien spouse generally doesn't have to file a federal income tax return if they had no income from sources in the United States. If the spouse has to file a return, see Nonresident Aliens, later. The nonresident alien spouse isn't eligible for the EIC, the credit for the elderly or disabled, or any education credit if they have to file a return.

Treating a dual-status alien spouse as a resident alien.

A similar choice is available if you are married at the end of the tax year and all of the following conditions are met.

  • One spouse is a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the tax year.

  • The other spouse was a nonresident alien at the beginning of the tax year and is a resident alien at the end of the tax year (is a dual-status alien for the tax year).

  • You both choose to treat the other (dual-status) spouse as a resident alien.

If this choice is made, the dual-status alien spouse will be treated as a resident alien for the entire year. This choice applies only to the election year. See Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident in Pub. 519.

Choice not made.

See What are the tax consequences of being a dual-status alien? below, and the Instructions for Form 1040-NR for more information.

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

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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