If you filed a tax extension in April, your 2025 federal tax return is due October 15, 2026.
That part is straightforward. But if 2025 was your first year living in the U.S., the bigger question may be your tax residency status.
You could be a full-year U.S. tax resident, a nonresident, or a dual-status alien who was a nonresident for part of the year and a resident for the rest. That distinction affects what income you report and which tax forms you need to file.
There is another issue many new residents miss: foreign bank and investment accounts. A checking account or savings account you left behind in your home country can create a separate reporting requirement, with potentially significant penalties for getting it wrong.
October 15 is the filing deadline, not the payment deadline
If you filed Form 4868 for an extension, you have until October 15, 2026 to file your 2025 federal return.
But an extension gives you more time to file, not more time to pay.
If you owed federal income tax for 2025, the payment was generally due on April 15, 2026. Interest and applicable late-payment penalties can continue to accrue on unpaid tax.
Filing by October 15 avoids the late-filing penalty that would otherwise apply after the original deadline. It does not erase interest or late-payment charges that have already accumulated.
If you expect to owe money, paying as much as you can before October 15 can reduce the amount on which additional charges accrue.
What if you have a green card?
For U.S. federal tax purposes, a lawful permanent resident is generally a U.S. tax resident.
That means you generally report your worldwide income, not just income earned in the United States.
For example, if you moved to the U.S. and still have:
- Salary or other income from your former home country
- Rental income from property abroad
- Interest from a foreign bank account
- Dividends or other investment income from foreign accounts
those items may need to be reported on your U.S. tax return.
This is one of the first things new green card holders need to understand. Getting a green card is not just an immigration change. It can also change how the U.S. taxes your income.
What if you arrived during 2025 on a work visa?
If you moved to the U.S. during 2025 on an H-1B, L-1, or another visa, you may not have been a U.S. tax resident for the entire year.
The IRS uses the Substantial Presence Test to determine whether you are a resident for tax purposes.
Generally, you need to have been physically present in the U.S. for at least 31 days during 2025 and at least 183 days during the three-year period that includes 2025, with the following calculation:
All days in 2025 + one-third of your days in 2024 + one-sixth of your days in 2023.
There are exceptions and special rules, so simply counting the days you spent in the U.S. is not always enough.
If you became a resident partway through 2025, you may have dual status.
In that situation, you are generally treated as a nonresident for the part of the year before your residency began and a resident for the rest.
That matters because the two periods are taxed differently. Your residency start date determines when the U.S. generally begins taxing you as a resident on your worldwide income.
The IRS specifically identifies arrival and departure years as common situations in which dual-status rules apply.
So if you arrived in the U.S. during 2025, do not automatically file as a full-year resident just because you lived in the U.S. for part of the year.
What if you are on an F-1 student visa?
Many F-1 students are treated as nonresident aliens for U.S. tax purposes, particularly during the years in which their days of presence are excluded under the applicable student rules.
A nonresident generally reports U.S.-source income under different rules and typically files Form 1040-NR, rather than the standard Form 1040.
Do not assume that having an SSN or having lived in the U.S. for several years automatically makes you a tax resident. Your visa category, the number of days you were present, and the applicable exceptions all matter.
Your tax residency status also affects whether the foreign-account reporting rules below apply to you.
The foreign bank account trap
If you are a U.S. tax resident and still have financial accounts outside the United States, check them before you file.
There are two separate reporting regimes you may need to consider:
FBAR, FinCEN Form 114
If the combined value of your foreign financial accounts was more than $10,000 at any point during 2025, you generally must file an FBAR.
The $10,000 threshold applies to the combined value of all qualifying foreign accounts, not each account individually.
So you could have:
- A checking account in your home country
- A savings account
- An old brokerage account
and cross the $10,000 threshold when they are added together, even if no single account exceeds $10,000.
The FBAR is filed electronically with FinCEN, not with the IRS, through the BSA E-Filing System. It is separate from your federal tax return.
The normal FBAR deadline is April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15.
The penalties can be substantial. For 2025 reporting, the maximum civil penalty for a non-willful violation is $16,536, while a willful violation can carry a penalty of $165,353 or 50% of the account balance, whichever is greater, subject to the applicable rules.
Form 8938, FATCA reporting
Form 8938 is different from the FBAR.
It is filed with your federal tax return, rather than separately with FinCEN.
For a person living in the U.S., the thresholds are generally:
- Single: more than $50,000 in specified foreign financial assets on the last day of the year, or more than $75,000 at any time during the year.
- Married filing jointly: more than $100,000 on the last day of the year, or more than $150,000 at any time during the year.
You can be required to file both an FBAR and Form 8938. Filing one does not automatically satisfy the other.
The important point is that these are separate reporting rules with different thresholds, forms, and filing systems.
The numbers at a glance
| Item | Threshold or rule | Where filed | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Extended 2025 federal return | 6-month extension | IRS | October 15, 2026 |
| 2025 tax payment | Generally due April 15 | IRS | April 15, 2026 |
| Substantial Presence Test | 31 days plus 183-day calculation | N/A | N/A |
| FBAR, FinCEN Form 114 | More than $10,000 combined foreign accounts | FinCEN | October 15, 2026 |
| Form 8938, single | More than $50,000 year-end or $75,000 at any time | IRS, with return | October 15, 2026 |
| Form 8938, married filing jointly | More than $100,000 year-end or $150,000 at any time | IRS, with return | October 15, 2026 |
| FBAR non-willful penalty | Up to $16,536 | N/A | N/A |
| FBAR willful penalty | Up to $165,353 or 50% of balance | N/A | N/A |
What should you check before October 15?
If 2025 was your first year in the U.S., do these checks before filing:
- Work out your tax residency status. Were you a resident, nonresident, or dual-status taxpayer?
- If you became a resident during the year, establish your residency start date.
- If you were a U.S. tax resident, report your worldwide income as required.
- Add up your foreign financial accounts. Do not check them one at a time. The FBAR threshold is based on the combined value of qualifying accounts.
- Check Form 8938 separately. Its thresholds and reporting requirements are different from the FBAR.
- If you owe tax, pay what you can. The October extension gives you more time to file, not more time to pay.
For someone who moved to the U.S. during 2025, October 15 is more than just a filing deadline.
Before you submit your return, make sure you know when your U.S. tax residency started, what income you need to report, and whether your accounts back home trigger separate foreign-account reporting.
That can be much more important than the extension itself.
