The closer-connection review begins outside the calculator
IRS guidance describes a closer-connection exception that may be relevant even when the substantial-presence day-count formula is met. The general single-country conditions include fewer than 183 days of presence in the current year, maintaining a tax home in that foreign country during the entire year, a closer connection to that country than to the United States, and restrictions involving steps toward lawful permanent resident status.
A special rule can permit a closer connection to two foreign countries, but not more than two. The IRS lists five conditions: a tax home in the first country beginning on the first day of the year; a change to a second foreign country during the year; maintenance of that second tax home for the rest of the year; a closer connection to each country than to the United States during the relevant period; and being subject to tax as a resident in either country for the entire year or in both countries during the respective tax-home periods.
Roam Window can display the entered current-year count, but it cannot establish the other conditions. It does not collect a tax home, permanent home, family location, personal belongings, affiliations, business activity, driver's license, voting, charitable activity, immigration applications, or similar facts. A day total alone is not a closer-connection analysis.
Significant contacts require facts and judgment
The IRS closer-connection page gives a nonexclusive list of facts and circumstances used to compare significant contacts. The list includes where a permanent home and family are located, where belongings and affiliations are maintained, where business activity occurs outside the tax home, and what jurisdictions appear on documents such as licenses or voter registrations.
Those facts are sensitive and context dependent, which is why they are excluded from this local scenario. The product does not score contacts, ask a checklist, or predict whether the IRS would accept a position. Review the current official list directly and obtain qualified advice for ambiguous facts rather than converting personal details into a software badge.
Immigration actions and timing are separate gates
IRS guidance says certain actions toward lawful permanent resident status, including specified applications or pending status, can prevent the closer-connection exception. The page names forms that may indicate that intent. The estimator has no immigration-status field and makes no inference about any application, because collecting that information would exceed both its privacy scope and arithmetic purpose.
The IRS also says Form 8840 is used to claim the closer-connection exception and must be filed on time. It describes attaching the form to a federal income tax return when one is filed, or sending it separately by the applicable return due date when no return is filed. Review current instructions for the year; Roam Window does not calculate deadlines or decide a filing obligation.
Read the formula output narrowly
A saved scenario may show that both day-count formula gates are met. That output is still useful: it preserves the exact three-year arithmetic and shows whether the current-year count is below 183. But it does not say that the closer-connection conditions are satisfied, that Form 8840 is available, or that any filing step has been completed.
Use the estimator as the day-count worksheet, then move to the IRS closer-connection page, Form 8840 materials, and Publication 519 for the separate analysis. Record no tax-home, family, financial, or immigration data in Roam Window. If professional advice is needed, share the relevant facts directly with the adviser rather than trying to make the anonymous calculator hold them.
- Current-year presence is only one condition named by the IRS.
- Significant contacts and immigration actions are not calculator inputs.
- Form 8840 timing and filing steps require separate review.
Official sources
- IRS — Closer connection exception to the substantial presence test
- eCFR — 26 CFR §301.7701(b)-2 closer connection exception
- IRS — About Form 8840
- IRS — Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
Sources were checked on . Linked institutions may update their guidance after that date.