2026 · US federal income tax · Substantial Presence Test

US Substantial Presence and Tax Residency Day Calculator

Check both the 31-day and weighted 183-day tests using 2024–2026 travel records.
Compare planned visits and excluded days, then save the assumptions and departure-date review.

1. Rule year and status

Tax yearUS citizenUS lawful permanent resident at any time in 2026

This is the US federal income-tax day test. Immigration / ESTA permission, Korean residency and US estate-tax domicile require separate review. Travel records are calculated on this screen without being sent to a server.

2. Actual visits · 2024–2026

Both US-local arrival and departure dates count. Overlapping dates count once. Empty records mean zero only after you confirm completeness.

Arrival 1Departure 1

All actual visits for 2024–2026 are entered; a year without visits means zero days.

3. Additional visits this year

Both US-local arrival and departure dates count. Overlapping dates count once. Empty records mean zero only after you confirm completeness.

4. Excluded days and evidence

A visa label alone does not qualify you. Review eligibility, time limits, evidence and required Form 8843 filing. Pending days count in the main result, with a separate conditional exclusion scenario. Exclusions must contain only actual / planned presence days.

Closer connection, treaty, first-year choice or residency starting / ending dates need separate review.

Presence day results

Pending days included · weighted days with plans

0 / 183

Incomplete information · confirm status and three-year records

Pending days included (main)

Actual weighted days: 0
Weighted days with plans: 0
Current-year 31-day test: 0 / 31 · Below
Weighted 183-day test: Below
Max new counted days beyond actual visits: N/A
Max new counted days beyond entered plans: N/A

Pending days excluded (conditional)

Actual weighted days: 0
Weighted days with plans: 0
Current-year 31-day test: 0 / 31 · Below
Weighted 183-day test: Below
Max new counted days beyond actual visits: N/A
Max new counted days beyond entered plans: N/A

Additional days assume other intervals remain fixed and all new dates count. N/A means already met or unverified status / records. Zero means the next counted day crosses the test, or no new calendar dates remain this year. Physical totals are before exclusions.

Unique annual presence and exclusion scenarios with plans
Year	Physical	Confirmed	Pending	Main counted	Conditional counted
2026	0	0	0	0	0
2025	0	0	0	0	0
2024	0	0	0	0	0

Below SPT does not mean no US filing duty. Closer connection also requires review of foreign tax home, ties, permanent-residence steps and Form 8840, alongside fewer than 183 current-year presence days. Review citizenship, green card, treaties, dual-status and exclusion forms with a professional.

US tax presence can depend on three years of travel

Before booking a long visit to family or a retirement trip, review your tax day count as well as your immigration permission.
Fewer than 183 days in the United States this year can still meet the federal income-tax substantial presence test, or SPT, once weighted prior-year days are added.
This calculator supports tax year 2026 and records for 2024–2026.
It counts unique calendar dates and compares actual records with additional visits you are considering.

One worksheet per person

Family members traveling together may have different prior visits, citizenship and lawful permanent residence status.
Enter one person’s history at a time and save a separate worksheet for each person.
The output supports schedule review and professional consultation; it does not compute tax or establish every US filing obligation.

Both the 31-day and weighted 183-day tests must be met

Current-year condition

At least 31 countable days must fall in 2026 after applicable exclusions.
A large weighted total does not by itself make someone with 30 current-year countable days meet SPT.
The general SPT 31-day condition does not require consecutive days.
Do not confuse it with the separate consecutive-day requirement for first-year choice.

Three-year weighted condition

Add all countable 2026 days, 1/3 of countable 2025 days and 1/6 of countable 2024 days.
The result must be at least 183 while the current-year condition is also met.
Neither a simple unweighted three-year total nor either condition alone determines the general SPT result.

Exact calculation

Weighted days = D2026 + D2025 / 3 + D2024 / 6
Test = D2026 ≥ 31 AND 6 × D2026 + 2 × D2025 + D2024 ≥ 1,098

Fractions are not rounded before comparison.
Displayed totals use up to three decimal places, but the threshold is checked using integer sixths.
The two conditions appear separately so you can identify why an entered schedule is below the test.

Use US-local arrival and departure dates

Under the general rule, any part of a day physically spent in the United States counts as one presence date.
Arrival on January 1 and departure on January 10 therefore gives 10 days, including both endpoints; a same-day visit generally gives one day.
A flight’s overseas departure or arrival date may differ from the US-local date because of time zones.
Reconcile travel records, passport evidence and flight information before evaluating exclusions.

Overlaps, leap days and year boundaries

Overlapping intervals and two visits sharing a date count that date once.
A December–January interval is divided by calendar year, and February 29, 2024 is counted as a valid day.
Dates outside 2024–2026 generate a warning and are trimmed to that supported window.
A 2026 plan extending into 2027 is counted only through December 31 for this worksheet; reassess the following year using its own three-year window.

US territories and airspace require separate treatment

The SPT definition includes the 50 states and Washington, DC, among other specified areas, but excludes US territories and airspace.
Do not enter days in Guam or Puerto Rico as if they were automatically mainland presence days.
For mixed itineraries, verify the location on each date and the applicable territorial tax rules separately.

How to enter a complete travel history

Confirm tax year 2026, US citizenship and lawful permanent residence at any point in the year.
Keep unknown facts marked Unknown.
Enter every actual visit during 2024–2026.
Confirm completeness before treating a year without visits as zero; a blank initial screen is not a nonresident finding.
Add the US-local arrival and departure dates for additional 2026 plans.
A planned date already recorded as actual presence is counted only once.
Add exclusion intervals, their reasons and the evidence status.
Every exclusion date must belong to actual or planned presence; split an interval if it contains a date you were outside the United States.
Compare the main and conditional totals, both tests and the additional day budgets.
Save the worksheet and bring unresolved status, exclusions or exceptions to a tax professional.

The form allows up to 30 actual intervals, 10 additional plans and 30 exclusion intervals.
An entirely blank row is ignored, but a row with only one date is incomplete.
Invalid calendar dates and reversed intervals withhold the result until corrected.
For long histories, reconcile the original records first and combine adjacent intervals only when their treatment is the same.

Worked examples: 120 days versus 123 days

2026 US SPT countable-day boundary examples
Example	2026	2025	2024	Weighted	Day test
Base visits	120	120	120	180	Below 183
Two extra days	122	120	120	182	Below 183
Three extra days	123	120	120	183	Both met
Current-year shortfall	30	365	366	212.667	Below 31

The synthetic example button enters 120 days in each year and an October 1–3, 2026 plan.
Keeping the other records fixed, departure on October 2 produces 182 weighted annual days, while including October 3 produces 183.
This date is the departure threshold for that annual schedule comparison.
It is not a conclusion that tax residency begins on October 3.

Interpret additional day budgets and departure thresholds

All new dates are assumed countable

The maximum additional day budget is the largest whole number of new current-year countable dates that leaves the two SPT conditions unmet together, holding other records fixed.
The calculation checks both tests rather than simply subtracting the weighted total from 183.
New dates must not overlap existing presence, and the budget is capped by the number of current-year dates not already entered.
Budgets beyond actual records and beyond entered plans appear separately.

Zero is different from N/A

Zero additional days means the next new countable day reaches SPT, or no unused calendar dates remain this year.
If every current-year date is already recorded and exclusions keep the count below SPT, there is no new date to add; distinguish that calendar limit from reaching the test.
N/A means SPT is already met or citizenship, green card status or complete records do not support an applicable budget.
If exclusions are pending, compare the two conditional budgets and verify eligibility before finalizing a departure schedule.

The last below-threshold departure is searched only within each entered plan interval.
All other actual and planned intervals remain fixed; if those other records already meet SPT, shortening this plan cannot produce a below-threshold departure.
Exclusions beyond a shortened departure no longer reduce days because that scenario has no presence on those dates.
Recalculate after any flight change, added visit or removed visit.

Exclusions require eligibility and evidence

Students, teachers and government-related visitors

F/J/M/Q students, J/Q teachers or trainees and qualifying foreign government-related individuals have distinct rules.
The generally applicable five-calendar-year student rule differs from the teachers’ and trainees’ prior-six-year exemption history restrictions.
A-3 and G-5 holders are excluded from the general government-related category.
This tool does not adjudicate visa histories; it subtracts entered dates only under the selected assumption.

Transit, medical inability, commuting and crew

Transit of less than 24 hours between foreign places, a medical inability to leave arising during US presence, regular Canada/Mexico commuting and foreign-vessel crew days have specific requirements.
Business activities during transit or a medical condition predating arrival can change the analysis.
For professional athletes at charitable sports events, an entire training or travel period is not automatically excluded.

Pending exclusions remain counted in the main scenario and are subtracted only in the conditional comparison.
For example, 123 current-year days with three pending exclusion days and 120 days in each prior year produce 183 in the main scenario and 180 conditionally.
Overlapping exclusions are deducted once, and confirmed exclusions take priority over pending ones on a shared date.
The Reviewed assumption selection records the user’s eligibility, evidence and required-form review; it is not approval by this calculator.

Form 8843 and timely filing

Review the applicable Form 8843 rules and deadline for exempt-individual or medical-condition exclusions.
Separate form filing may be required even without an income-tax return, and late filing can affect the exclusion.
Detailed treatment differs for foreign government-related individuals and other categories; do not apply one form rule indiscriminately to every reason.
Exempt individual does not mean exempt from every US tax.

Citizenship, green cards and residency dates follow separate rules

A US citizen cannot establish the US tax position solely through this alien SPT calculation.
Lawful permanent residence at any time in 2026 requires separate green card test review.
An expired card or a short current-year stay does not by itself terminate that status for tax purposes.
Unknown status permits arithmetic comparison but withholds an applicable additional day budget.

The threshold is not the residency starting date

When SPT is met, the tax residency starting date may depend on the first presence date in the year, relevant exceptions and prior-year residency.
Do not read the plan’s annual-threshold departure as meaning resident taxation starts only on that day.
Arrival, return or green card years can require dual-status or first-year choice analysis, which this calculator does not determine or price.

Closer connection and treaty exceptions are not automatic

Someone meeting general SPT may still need closer connection or other exception review.
The general closer connection exception requires fewer than 183 current-year presence days together with a qualifying foreign tax home, closer foreign ties, review of permanent-residence applications or steps, and timely Form 8840, among other conditions.
A house or family abroad is not sufficient by itself.
Moving tax homes between two foreign countries and separate student exceptions involve additional rules.

Keep different jurisdictions and tax concepts separate

Korea’s Income Tax Act Article 1-2 uses a domestic address / abode framework distinct from the US three-year SPT.
Potential dual residency under domestic laws requires separate treaty tie-breaker and form review.
The physical-day total shown before exclusions is a conservative record comparison, not a final determination of closer connection day counting.
US income-tax residency also does not establish estate-tax domicile or Korean nonresidency.

Frequently asked questions

Does fewer than 183 days this year always mean nonresident?

No.
Include 1/3 of the preceding year and 1/6 of the second preceding year, check the 31-day condition, and review green card status and separate choices.

Must the 31 current-year days be consecutive?

Not for general SPT.
The consecutive 31-day rule belongs to the separate first-year choice provisions.

Why do both arrival and departure count?

The general IRS rule counts a date with any physical presence.
Include both endpoints and count overlapping dates once.

Can I exclude every day with a student visa?

Check visa compliance, prior exemption history, time limits and required Form 8843 filing.
Pending days are compared conditionally and never automatically approved.

How are zero additional days and N/A different?

Zero means the next new counted day meets both tests, or no unused calendar dates remain this year.
N/A means already met or status / records do not support an applicable budget.

Does tax residency begin on the plan threshold date?

No.
The date compares annual totals with other visits fixed.
Separate starting-date rules may point to an earlier date.

Does being below SPT eliminate filing obligations?

No.
A nonresident can still have US-source income and filing duties.
Below the day test does not mean no return or zero tax.

Are my travel records transmitted or tracked?

This feature does not send travel inputs to a server, URL or analytics event.
A TXT download contains sensitive travel records, so decide how you retain or share it.

Official sources and 2026 assumptions

Sources were reviewed on 2026-10-02.
The 2026 day test was cross-checked against IRS guidance and Form 1040-C instructions (01/2026); the currently published Publication 519 is the 2025 edition.
For jurisdiction boundaries only, Korea’s official law API confirmed Income Tax Act MST 280405, Article 1-2, with article effective date 2026-01-01; it is not the authority for the US formula.
Recheck SPT rules, exceptions, forms and the latest Publication 519 for a new tax year rather than automatically advancing this calculator’s supported year.

Save the worksheet before finalizing travel or consultation

Download or print the assumptions, actual and planned intervals, excluded dates, both conditions, additional budgets and plan departure comparisons together.
Keep unresolved citizenship, green card, exclusions, closer connection and treaty questions visible for your adviser.
Replace the synthetic example with reconciled personal records before saving a worksheet for action.
Review immigration permission and tax schedule consequences separately before booking or changing a flight.