The India treaty gives qualifying students a special deduction rule. Check eligibility before applying it to your return.
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Start with your income records and withholding forms. We review the treaty position with your Form 1040-NR.
If you need an ITIN, application plans are available separately. The ITIN application fee excludes the U.S. tax return.
Form 1040-NR for your U.S. income.
Includes:
The treaty's student provision starts with a person who is or was resident in the other country immediately before the visit and is visiting principally for education or training. Article 21(1) concerns qualifying maintenance, education and training payments arising outside the country visited.IRS
Article 21(2) addresses grants, scholarships and employment remuneration outside that first rule. It provides qualifying students and apprentices access to specified relief available to residents. The IRS applies that provision through its current filing instructions; it does not mean all wages disappear from your return.IRSIRS
The article limits benefits to the time reasonably or customarily required for the education or training. Keep admission and program records together with the dates of your visit. An Indian passport, by itself, is not the complete eligibility test.IRS
Most Form 1040-NR filers cannot use the standard deduction. Eligible Indian students and business apprentices can choose it instead of itemized deductions under the treaty rule. Use the instructions for the tax year being filed, rather than a remembered amount from an earlier year.IRS
Publication 519 provides a worksheet and explains limitations. If you are married filing separately and your spouse itemizes, you cannot take the standard deduction. Being eligible for Article 21 does not turn a non-resident return into a joint return.Pub. 519
Keep the deduction decision separate from whether income is exempt. Wages, scholarship payments and support from outside the United States can require different treatment. A deduction reduces the amount used to calculate tax; it is not a refund guarantee or a certificate that payroll should withhold nothing.IRSIRS
Certain F, J, M and Q student days can be excluded from substantial presence counting if the requirements are met. The word exempt in that day-counting rule refers to the presence test, not an exemption from tax on every dollar you receive.IRS
The Form 1040-NR instructions contain filing exceptions for some non-resident students with no taxable income. Separately, excluded-day reporting can require Form 8843. Do not decide whether to file merely by looking at whether you received a refund last year.IRSPub. 519
Bring all Forms W-2 and 1042-S. They help distinguish employment pay from scholarship income and show withholding already paid. Your school or payer's treaty paperwork is useful supporting material, but it does not replace the year-end filing decision.IRSIRS
Article 22 concerns professors, teachers and research scholars. It has its own conditions and time limit; it is not the Article 21 student deduction rule. A job title or university address cannot be used to choose whichever article produces less tax.IRS
The treaty's technical explanation describes the scholar exemption and the consequence of exceeding its permitted visit period. Check the full expected and actual visit, including any extension, before treating research compensation as exempt. The student standard-deduction exception should not be carried into a scholar return without checking eligibility.IRSIRS
Collect visa, arrival, departure and program records; review tax residence.Pub. 519
Identify wages, scholarship income and qualifying foreign support.IRS
Apply the current tax-year deduction rules and any relevant limitations.IRS
Use an SSN if eligible. If an ITIN is required, follow Form W-7 requirements.IRS
No. The exception applies to students and business apprentices eligible for Article 21(2), subject to the filing rules.IRS
No. Employment remuneration and qualifying foreign support are addressed differently. The article must be applied to the actual payments.IRS
No. Use the SSN. An ITIN is for people with a federal tax purpose who cannot obtain an SSN.IRS
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Every IRS fact on this page comes from IRS.gov or the other official pages listed below and was checked on October 3, 2026. Nolly.com's own prices are the only exception. Nolly.com is a private company and is not part of the IRS.
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Checked against IRS.gov on October 3, 2026. General information, not tax advice.
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