For a box asking for dates on your current DS-2019, use the start and end dates printed on your currently valid renewed form—not the 2025 form or a blend of the two.
“I am a J-1 physician filing my 2025 Form 1040-NR in 2026. My DS-2019 is renewed annually. When my tax software asks for the 'Program Start Date' and 'Program End Date' as per my current Form DS-2019, should I use the dates from the DS-2019 that covered the 2025 tax year, the currently valid renewed DS-2019, or a merged date range from both forms?”
Resumen
You do not need to invent one continuous date range. The renewed document answers a question about your current form; your older document remains useful evidence for questions about 2025.
For this particular box, the deciding words are “as per my current Form DS-2019,” not the year printed on the tax return.
Enter the two program dates exactly as printed in block 3 of your currently valid . The State Department says block 3 identifies the program’s beginning and end, and its regulation requires a new DS-2019 reflecting an extension. [State Department DS-2019 description](https://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/about-ds-2019/detailed-description-of-the-ds-2019); [22 CFR 62.43(b)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-C/section-62.43)
Do not substitute dates from the form that covered 2025 in a box expressly asking about your *current* form. Keep that earlier form for separate questions about your 2025 status and presence: the IRS’s 2025 Form 8843 expressly measures those facts for the tax year. [2025 Form 8843, Part I](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f8843--2025.pdf)
Do not create a start date from one form and an end date from another for a question asking what one current document says. The extension produces a new form reflecting the extension; report the dates actually printed on that form. [22 CFR 62.43(b)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-C/section-62.43)
The older form still matters wherever the software asks for your 2025 history.
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Watch out for
Próximos pasos
These steps separate the document the box names from the tax-year facts your return must report.
Before entering dates
Put both DS-2019s beside your return
Locate block 3 on the renewed form, where the State Department says the program beginning and end dates appear. Retain the older form for 2025-specific questions; an extension is reflected on a newly issued DS-2019 under [22 CFR 62.43(b)](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-22/chapter-I/subchapter-G/part-62/subpart-C/section-62.43).
Requisitos
At the “current Form DS-2019” prompt
Enter the renewed form’s printed dates
Copy that one form’s block 3 start date into “Program Start Date” and its block 3 end date into “Program End Date.” Do not replace either with a date from the 2025 form or construct a merged period. [Department of State, DS-2019 description](https://j1visa.state.gov/participants/how-to-apply/about-ds-2019/detailed-description-of-the-ds-2019)
Requisitos
Before submitting the return
Answer 2025 tax-history questions separately
For 2025 Form 8843, report your immigration status as of December 31, 2025, and your actual U.S. days for the years it asks about. If you qualify to exclude 2025 days as a J-1 teacher or trainee, complete Parts I and II and attach Form 8843 to Form 1040-NR; the two-of-six-prior-years rule and its narrow exception determine whether that exclusion is available. [2025 Form 8843 and instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f8843--2025.pdf)
Requisitos
As of October 6, 2026
File the appropriate 2025 return promptly
First establish whether you remained a nonresident for 2025; J-1 status by itself does not decide that. For a 2025 Form 1040-NR, the regular due date was April 15, 2026, with employee wages subject to U.S. withholding, or June 15, 2026, without them. A Form 4868 extension had to be requested by the applicable due date; October 15, 2026, is the general extended date for most calendar-year filers who did so. If you had no timely extension, do not wait for October 15 to file. [IRS J-1 guidance](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/taxation-of-alien-individuals-by-immigration-status-j-1); [2025 Form 1040-NR instructions](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/i1040nr--2025.pdf); [2025 Form 4868](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f4868--2025.pdf)
Requisitos
Fuentes legales
This answer rests on the Department of State’s DS-2019 guidance and extension regulation and the IRS’s 2025 forms and instructions.
22 CFR 62.43
An extension results in a newly issued DS-2019 reflecting it.
(b)
A responsible officer extending the program of an exchange visitor shall issue to the exchange visitor a duly executed Form DS-2019 reflecting such extension and provide a notification copy of such form to the Department of State.
Department of State, Detailed Description of the DS-2019
The program dates to transcribe are on the DS-2019 itself, in block 3.
Block 3
Identifies the beginning and end dates of the program (block 3) and the applicable program category and subject/field description (block 4)
2025 Form 8843 and instructions
A historical tax-year status question is answered using the end of that tax year, not the filing date.
Part I, line 1b instructions
Enter your current nonimmigrant status, as of the last day of the tax year, such as that shown on your electronic arrival/departure record from the CBP I-94 website.
2025 Form 8843
The IRS separately asks for actual U.S. presence in the specified tax years.
Part I, line 4a
Enter the actual number of days you were present in the United States during: 2025 2024 2023
2025 Form 8843 and instructions
Annual immigration-document renewals do not replace the IRS’s lookback for excluding teacher-or-trainee days.
Part II instructions
Even if you meet these requirements, you can’t exclude days of presence in 2025 as a teacher or trainee if you were exempt as a teacher, trainee, or student for any part of 2 of the 6 prior calendar years.
2025 Form 8843 and instructions
A limited exception to the two-of-six-years rule exists; it is not automatic for physicians.
Part II, Exception
If you were exempt as a teacher, trainee, or student for any part of 2 of the 6 prior calendar years, you can exclude days of presence in 2025 as a teacher or trainee only if all four of the following apply.
2025 Form 8843 and instructions
One condition of that narrow exception concerns who paid all of the physician’s 2025 compensation.
Part II, Exception, condition 2
A foreign employer paid all your compensation during 2025.
IRS, Taxation of alien individuals by immigration status—J-1
The IRS distinguishes J-1 teachers and trainees from people admitted as J-1 students.
Teacher or trainee
The term “teacher or trainee” refers to any individual (and that individual’s immediate family), other than a student, who is admitted temporarily to the U.S. on a “J” or “Q” visa, and who substantially complies with the requirements of that visa.
IRS, Taxation of alien individuals by immigration status—J-1
J-1 status alone does not establish that a person is a nonresident for tax purposes.
Residency status
In general, an alien in J-1 status (hereafter referred to as a “J-1 alien”) will be treated as a U.S. resident for federal income tax purposes if he or she meets the substantial presence test.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040-NR
This is the ordinary 2025 return deadline when an employee received wages subject to U.S. income-tax withholding.
Due date of return
File Form 1040-NR by April 15, 2026, if you were an employee and received wages subject to U.S. income tax withholding.
2025 Instructions for Form 1040-NR
The alternative regular deadline applies if there were no employee wages subject to U.S. withholding.
When To File
If you didn’t receive wages as an employee subject to U.S. income tax withholding, file Form 1040-NR by the 15th day of the 6th month after your tax year ends. A return for the 2025 calendar year is due by June 15, 2026.
2025 Form 4868 instructions
An extension request had to be made by the original return deadline.
When To File
File Form 4868 by the due date of your Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-NR, or 1040-SS.
2025 Form 4868 instructions
October 15 is the general extended deadline for most 2025 calendar-year filers, not an automatic new deadline for someone who missed the extension request.
Total Time Allowed
Generally, we can’t extend the due date of your return for more than 6 months (October 15, 2026, for most calendar year taxpayers).
These are the cited official rules for the 2025 tax year and the current exchange-visitor extension rule; rules can change.
This is general information about official processes, not legal advice, and SettleKit is not a law firm.
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