ENROLLED AGENT TEST PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS
WITH SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Qualifying person for HOH - ✔✔Must generally be related to the taxpayer either by
blood, adoption, or marriage. However, a foster child also qualifies if the child was
legally placed in the home by a government agency. Dependent parents also qualify for
HOH status.
An unrelated individual, and even certain family members, may still be considered a
"qualifying relative" for dependency purposes but will not be a qualifying person for the
HOH filing status.
✔✔Special Rules for Married Taxpayers who are "Considered Unmarried" - ✔✔To be
considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year, a taxpayer must meet all of the
following conditions:
Must not file a joint return with their spouse
Pay more than half the cost of a home, and the home must be the main residence of a
child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year
Not live with a spouse in the home during the last six months of the tax year
Be able to claim an exemption for the child.
**A married person, if not formally separated or divorced, must live apart for MORE
THAN HALF THE YEAR to claim head of household status as "considered unmarried"
✔✔NRA spouses - ✔✔A person who is married to a NRA may elect to file HOH by
"disregarding" the NRA, even if both spouses lived together the entire year. The
taxpayer must ALSO have a qualifying child, or other qualifying dependent, in order to
qualify for HOH status.
*In order to take advantage of this special rule, the US taxpayer cannot file jointly with
the NRA. This can be beneficial because those married to a NRA who file jointly must
report WORLDWIDE income. Filing as head of household with another qualifying
person, however, will prevent such couples from having to pay taxes on income
received outside the US.
✔✔Qualified Surviving Spouse - ✔✔Receives the same standard deduction and uses
the same tax brackets as married taxpayers who file jointly. This filing status ONLY
applies if the surviving spouse remains unmarried AND has a qualifying dependent. If
the surviving spouse remarries before the end of the year, the deceased spouse's return
must be filed MFS.
For each of the two years following the year of the spouse's death, the surviving spouse
can use the QSS filing status if the survivor has a qualifying dependent and doesn't
remarry. After the two-year period has ended, the surviving spouse may no longer file
as QSS.
Foster children are not qualifying children for the purposes of the QSS filing status.
,✔✔Annulment - ✔✔If a taxpayer obtains a court decree of annulment that holds no valid
marriage ever existed, the couple is legally unmarried even if they filed joint returns for
earlier years. Unlike divorce, annulment is retroactive. Taxpayers who have annulled
their marriage must file amended returns claiming single or HOH for all the tax years
affected by the annulment that aren't closed by the statute of limitations.
✔✔Determining Residency for Tax Purposes-aliens - ✔✔An 'alien' refers to an
individual who is not a US citizen. Aliens are divided into 2 categories:
nonresident alien and resident alien
✔✔Resident aliens - ✔✔Are taxes on all their income worldwide, similar to US citizens
✔✔Non-resident aliens - ✔✔taxed on income earned within the US and certain income
related to conducting business in the country. An NRA would be someone who lives
outside the US, and simply invests in US property or stocks, and is therefore required to
file a tax return to correctly report their US income.
✔✔Dual-status aliens - ✔✔have both nonresident and resident alien statuses during the
same tax year. Different rules apply for the parts of the year when they were a US
resident and nonresident. The most common dual-status years are the year of arrival
and departure from the US.
✔✔Residency vs. immigration status - ✔✔Residency is NOT THE SAME as legal
immigration status. For tax purposes, an individual may be considered a US resident
based on the time spent in the US, regardless of their immigration status.
✔✔Tax Residency Tests - ✔✔If a taxpayer is NOT a US citizen, they are considered
NRA for tax purposes UNLESS they meet one of the two tests: green card test of the
substantial presence test
✔✔Green card test - ✔✔An alien taxpayer is automatically considered a US resident if
they are lawful permanent residents of the US at any time during the tax year. A lawful
immigrant who has been issued an alien registration card, aka a 'green card' is a US
resident by default.
✔✔Substantial Presence Test - ✔✔An alien without a green card is considered a US
resident for tax purposes only if they meet the substantial presence test for the calendar
year. To meet this test, they must be physically present in the US for at least:
-31 days during the current tax year, and
-183 days during the 3-year-period, which includes the current year (2024) and the two
years immediately PRECEDING the current year.
For purposes of the 183-day requirement, all the days present in the current year are
counted, along with:
, 1/3 of the days present in the previous year, and
1/6 of the days present in the second year BEFORE the current year.
✔✔Exempt Individuals - ✔✔-Individuals who are immediately/automatically deemed to
be non-resident aliens because we do not count their days towards the SPT. These
include situations like the following:
-Regularly commutes to work in the US from a residence in Canada or Mexico,
generally more than 75% of the workdays during the applicable working period.
-Is present in the US as a crew member of a foreign vessel.
-Is unable to leave because of a medical condition that arose while in the US
-Is a professional athlete in the US to compete in a charitable sports event. These
athletes exclude only the days in which they competed in the sporting event, but do not
exclude days used for practice, travel, or to participate in promo events.
Exempt individuals include aliens who are:
-Foreign gov't officials in the US temporarily under an 'A' or 'G' visa (such as foreign
ambassadors and other important diplomats.
-Teachers on temporary visas; visiting scholars or researchers (scholars are exempt
from the substantial presence test for two years); and au pairs on a J-1 visa;
-Foreign students on temporary visas who do not intent to reside permanently in the US
(foreign students are exempt from the substantial presence test for 5 years).
✔✔International Students and Scholars - ✔✔An international student is anyone who is
temporarily in the US on an F, J, M, or Q visa. Immediate family members of a student,
including spouses and unmarried children under age 21 who reside with the student,
are also considered nonresidents for tax purposes.
International students holding specific visas are exempt from the substantial presence
test for the first 5 calendar years they are in the US. The 5 calendar years need not be
consecutive. Any part of a calendar year in which the student is present in the US
counts as a full year.
NRAs who have F-1 or J-1 visas don't have to pay SS or Medicare tax on their earnings.
However, once a person becomes a US resident for tax purposes, they are required to
pay these taxes on their earnings.
✔✔Form 8840-Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens - ✔✔NRAs may use
this form to claim the "closer connection to a foreign country" exception to the
substantial presence test. This form is filed with the 1040-NR. To establish a closer
connection, a taxpayer must have maintained more significant contacts with a foreign
country other than the US.
Example: Liam is a retired Canadian teacher who lives in Canada. He has a visitor's
visa to enter the US, and usually spends several months each year in Florida to escape
the harsh Canadian winters. Based on the time he spends in Florida, he meets the
substantial presence test, but has a stronger connection to Canada where he owns a
WITH SOLUTIONS RATED A+
✔✔Qualifying person for HOH - ✔✔Must generally be related to the taxpayer either by
blood, adoption, or marriage. However, a foster child also qualifies if the child was
legally placed in the home by a government agency. Dependent parents also qualify for
HOH status.
An unrelated individual, and even certain family members, may still be considered a
"qualifying relative" for dependency purposes but will not be a qualifying person for the
HOH filing status.
✔✔Special Rules for Married Taxpayers who are "Considered Unmarried" - ✔✔To be
considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year, a taxpayer must meet all of the
following conditions:
Must not file a joint return with their spouse
Pay more than half the cost of a home, and the home must be the main residence of a
child, stepchild, or foster child for more than half the year
Not live with a spouse in the home during the last six months of the tax year
Be able to claim an exemption for the child.
**A married person, if not formally separated or divorced, must live apart for MORE
THAN HALF THE YEAR to claim head of household status as "considered unmarried"
✔✔NRA spouses - ✔✔A person who is married to a NRA may elect to file HOH by
"disregarding" the NRA, even if both spouses lived together the entire year. The
taxpayer must ALSO have a qualifying child, or other qualifying dependent, in order to
qualify for HOH status.
*In order to take advantage of this special rule, the US taxpayer cannot file jointly with
the NRA. This can be beneficial because those married to a NRA who file jointly must
report WORLDWIDE income. Filing as head of household with another qualifying
person, however, will prevent such couples from having to pay taxes on income
received outside the US.
✔✔Qualified Surviving Spouse - ✔✔Receives the same standard deduction and uses
the same tax brackets as married taxpayers who file jointly. This filing status ONLY
applies if the surviving spouse remains unmarried AND has a qualifying dependent. If
the surviving spouse remarries before the end of the year, the deceased spouse's return
must be filed MFS.
For each of the two years following the year of the spouse's death, the surviving spouse
can use the QSS filing status if the survivor has a qualifying dependent and doesn't
remarry. After the two-year period has ended, the surviving spouse may no longer file
as QSS.
Foster children are not qualifying children for the purposes of the QSS filing status.
,✔✔Annulment - ✔✔If a taxpayer obtains a court decree of annulment that holds no valid
marriage ever existed, the couple is legally unmarried even if they filed joint returns for
earlier years. Unlike divorce, annulment is retroactive. Taxpayers who have annulled
their marriage must file amended returns claiming single or HOH for all the tax years
affected by the annulment that aren't closed by the statute of limitations.
✔✔Determining Residency for Tax Purposes-aliens - ✔✔An 'alien' refers to an
individual who is not a US citizen. Aliens are divided into 2 categories:
nonresident alien and resident alien
✔✔Resident aliens - ✔✔Are taxes on all their income worldwide, similar to US citizens
✔✔Non-resident aliens - ✔✔taxed on income earned within the US and certain income
related to conducting business in the country. An NRA would be someone who lives
outside the US, and simply invests in US property or stocks, and is therefore required to
file a tax return to correctly report their US income.
✔✔Dual-status aliens - ✔✔have both nonresident and resident alien statuses during the
same tax year. Different rules apply for the parts of the year when they were a US
resident and nonresident. The most common dual-status years are the year of arrival
and departure from the US.
✔✔Residency vs. immigration status - ✔✔Residency is NOT THE SAME as legal
immigration status. For tax purposes, an individual may be considered a US resident
based on the time spent in the US, regardless of their immigration status.
✔✔Tax Residency Tests - ✔✔If a taxpayer is NOT a US citizen, they are considered
NRA for tax purposes UNLESS they meet one of the two tests: green card test of the
substantial presence test
✔✔Green card test - ✔✔An alien taxpayer is automatically considered a US resident if
they are lawful permanent residents of the US at any time during the tax year. A lawful
immigrant who has been issued an alien registration card, aka a 'green card' is a US
resident by default.
✔✔Substantial Presence Test - ✔✔An alien without a green card is considered a US
resident for tax purposes only if they meet the substantial presence test for the calendar
year. To meet this test, they must be physically present in the US for at least:
-31 days during the current tax year, and
-183 days during the 3-year-period, which includes the current year (2024) and the two
years immediately PRECEDING the current year.
For purposes of the 183-day requirement, all the days present in the current year are
counted, along with:
, 1/3 of the days present in the previous year, and
1/6 of the days present in the second year BEFORE the current year.
✔✔Exempt Individuals - ✔✔-Individuals who are immediately/automatically deemed to
be non-resident aliens because we do not count their days towards the SPT. These
include situations like the following:
-Regularly commutes to work in the US from a residence in Canada or Mexico,
generally more than 75% of the workdays during the applicable working period.
-Is present in the US as a crew member of a foreign vessel.
-Is unable to leave because of a medical condition that arose while in the US
-Is a professional athlete in the US to compete in a charitable sports event. These
athletes exclude only the days in which they competed in the sporting event, but do not
exclude days used for practice, travel, or to participate in promo events.
Exempt individuals include aliens who are:
-Foreign gov't officials in the US temporarily under an 'A' or 'G' visa (such as foreign
ambassadors and other important diplomats.
-Teachers on temporary visas; visiting scholars or researchers (scholars are exempt
from the substantial presence test for two years); and au pairs on a J-1 visa;
-Foreign students on temporary visas who do not intent to reside permanently in the US
(foreign students are exempt from the substantial presence test for 5 years).
✔✔International Students and Scholars - ✔✔An international student is anyone who is
temporarily in the US on an F, J, M, or Q visa. Immediate family members of a student,
including spouses and unmarried children under age 21 who reside with the student,
are also considered nonresidents for tax purposes.
International students holding specific visas are exempt from the substantial presence
test for the first 5 calendar years they are in the US. The 5 calendar years need not be
consecutive. Any part of a calendar year in which the student is present in the US
counts as a full year.
NRAs who have F-1 or J-1 visas don't have to pay SS or Medicare tax on their earnings.
However, once a person becomes a US resident for tax purposes, they are required to
pay these taxes on their earnings.
✔✔Form 8840-Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens - ✔✔NRAs may use
this form to claim the "closer connection to a foreign country" exception to the
substantial presence test. This form is filed with the 1040-NR. To establish a closer
connection, a taxpayer must have maintained more significant contacts with a foreign
country other than the US.
Example: Liam is a retired Canadian teacher who lives in Canada. He has a visitor's
visa to enter the US, and usually spends several months each year in Florida to escape
the harsh Canadian winters. Based on the time he spends in Florida, he meets the
substantial presence test, but has a stronger connection to Canada where he owns a
