A French person who secures a work contract in Austin, an investor receiving dividends from a Delaware company, a student on an F-1 visa giving classes on campus: these three profiles have neither the same tax status nor the same obligations towards the IRS.
Income tax filing in the USA does not depend on nationality, but rather on a combination of criteria related to residency, type of income, and amount received.
Gross income thresholds for the 2025 tax year: the amounts that trigger the obligation
The IRS sets gross income thresholds each year above which filing a return becomes mandatory, even if the taxpayer believes they owe nothing. These thresholds vary based on age and filing status, and most French-speaking guides overlook them.
For the tax year 2025, a single person under 65 must file starting at $15,750 of gross income. After age 65, this threshold rises to $17,550. A married couple filing jointly is affected starting at $31,500 if both spouses are under 65, and at $33,100 if one of them is 65 or older.
These amounts are aligned with the standard deduction and adjusted each year to account for inflation. Below these thresholds, there is no requirement to file Form 1040, but filing may allow for the recovery of a tax credit or an overpayment of withholding.
The income tax filing in the USA also applies to self-employed individuals whose net income exceeds $400, regardless of the gross income threshold applicable to their filing status.
Resident alien or non-resident alien: the test that changes everything
The American tax system does not classify taxpayers by nationality. It distinguishes resident aliens from non-resident aliens (NRA) through two tests applied by the IRS.
Green Card Test and Substantial Presence Test
The first is simple: any person holding a permanent resident card (green card) is automatically considered a resident alien for the entire tax year. No calculations, no nuances.
The second, the Substantial Presence Test, is based on a count of days of physical presence in the United States. You add up all the days spent on U.S. soil during the current year, one-third of the days from the previous year, and one-sixth of the days from the year before that. If the total reaches or exceeds 183 days and the taxpayer has been present for at least 31 days during the current year, they are treated as a resident alien.
Situations vary on this point (frequent travel, dual residency), and certain visa categories are excluded from the count. A student on an F-1 visa benefits from an exemption during their first five years of presence.
Concrete consequences on the filing
- A resident alien reports their worldwide income on Form 1040, just like a U.S. citizen. Wages earned in France, rental income in Canada, interest on an account in Switzerland: everything must be reported.
- A non-resident alien only reports their U.S.-source income on Form 1040-NR. There are two main categories: income effectively connected with a U.S. trade or business (Effectively Connected Income, or ECI) and passive U.S.-source income (Fixed, Determinable, Annual, Periodical, or FDAP) such as dividends or royalties.
- Some passive U.S.-source income is subject to a flat withholding tax, often reduced by bilateral tax treaties. The France-U.S. treaty provides reduced rates on dividends and interest.
Form 1040 and filing status: choosing the right box
Form 1040 is the central document of U.S. federal taxation. It is used by both citizens and resident aliens. Before filling anything out, you must determine your filing status, which is the status under which you file.
The five options are: Single, Married Filing Jointly, Married Filing Separately, Head of Household, and Qualifying Surviving Spouse. The choice of filing status directly affects the tax brackets and the applicable standard deduction.
A married couple where one spouse is a U.S. citizen and the other is a non-resident can opt for a joint return, provided the non-resident spouse agrees to report all their worldwide income. This choice, sometimes advantageous from a tax perspective, requires the foreign spouse to comply with IRS obligations, including reporting foreign bank accounts (FBAR).
FBAR and FATCA: reporting obligations beyond tax
Reporting income is not enough. U.S. taxpayers (citizens and resident aliens) must also report their foreign financial accounts if the total of the highest balances exceeds a certain threshold during the year.
The FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report) is filed separately from the tax return, using FinCEN Form 114, with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The obligation applies to any bank account, securities account, or life insurance contract held outside the United States.
FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) imposes a parallel obligation: affected taxpayers report their foreign assets on Form 8938, attached to the 1040. Penalties for failing to file FBAR can reach very high amounts, even in the absence of willful neglect.
For French citizens residing in the United States who maintain accounts in France (livret A, PEL, life insurance), these two obligations are in addition to the regular income tax filing. An oversight, even unintentional, can trigger an audit.
France-U.S. tax treaty: avoiding double taxation
The bilateral tax treaty between France and the United States determines which country has the right to tax each category of income. A French employee physically working in the United States is generally taxable in the USA on their U.S. wages, even if they remain a French tax resident.
The main mechanism to avoid double taxation is the tax credit: tax paid in one country is deducted from the tax owed in the other. In practice, you file in both countries and apply the credit provided by the treaty.
Any U.S. tax resident receiving French income must report it to the IRS, then use Form 1116 (Foreign Tax Credit) to deduct the tax already paid to the French tax authorities. The reverse is true for a French tax resident receiving U.S.-source income.
The federal deadline remains set for April 15 of the year following the tax year. Taxpayers living outside the United States benefit from an automatic two-month extension, pushing the date to June 15, but late interest accrues from April 15 if a balance is due.