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Federal filing

Form 8898 after beginning Puerto Rico residence

Form 8898 reports certain starts and ends of bona fide residence in a United States territory. Apply the income threshold and change-in-status conditions to each person, then use the current IRS form and instructions.

By Ben Guo · Sources verified · Publisher reviewed

Start with the two-part filing test

Both parts must be evaluated for the person and tax year
PartQuestionWhat the current instructions say
1. IncomeWas this person's worldwide gross income for the tax year more than $75,000?Worldwide gross income includes income in money, goods, property, and services, including income outside the United States and amounts that may ultimately be excluded, before deductions, credits, or rebates. A spouse's income is not included in the person's threshold calculation. [2]
2. Status changeDoes one of the instructions' specified beginning-or-ending-residence situations apply?The most common Puerto Rico path is taking a federal tax position that bona fide residence began after a prior year in which the person filed as a United States citizen or resident but not as a bona fide resident of that territory. The instructions also cover specified endings and moves between territories. [2]

The form reports a federal tax position

The IRS describes Form 8898 as notice that an individual became or ceased to be a bona fide resident of a United States territory under section 937(c). [1] It is not the Puerto Rico Act 60 grant application, a Puerto Rico income-tax return, or proof by itself that the underlying residence position is correct.

Bona fide residence requires the presence, tax-home, and closer-connection tests described in the federal regulation and Publication 570. [3] [4]

Prepare from reconciled records

  1. Confirm the current revision. Open the IRS Form 8898 page and current instructions. Record the revision date used for the return.
  2. Compute worldwide gross income for each spouse separately. Preserve the categories included and excluded from the threshold computation and the source document for each amount.
  3. State the residence position and year precisely. Reconcile the form with the travel calendar, tax-home analysis, closer-connection facts, and federal and Puerto Rico returns.
  4. Answer from the whole record. The form asks detailed questions about presence, income, homes, family, voting, licenses, business activity, and other connections. Use contemporaneous records rather than reconstructing answers from memory.
  5. Preserve filing evidence. Keep the filed form, attachments, transmission or mailing evidence, source records, and professional analysis with the return file.

Avoid category errors

  • Do not treat an Act 60 decree as automatic federal bona fide residence.
  • Do not test the $75,000 threshold using taxable income, adjusted gross income, or only United States-source income.
  • Do not combine spouses' income or assume a joint federal return means one joint Form 8898.
  • Do not assume every person who moves files the form; apply both the income and status-change conditions.
  • Do not assume being below the Form 8898 threshold removes other United States or Puerto Rico return obligations.
  • Do not rely on an older form revision without checking the IRS's current page.

Sources checked

  1. Form 8898, Statement for Individuals Who Begin or End Bona Fide Residence in a U.S. Territory — Internal Revenue Service; Official form; EN.
  2. Instructions for Form 8898 — Internal Revenue Service; Agency guidance; EN.
  3. 26 C.F.R. § 1.937-1, Bona fide residency in a possession — Electronic Code of Federal Regulations; Regulation; EN.
  4. Publication 570 (2025), Tax Guide for Individuals With Income From U.S. Territories — Internal Revenue Service; Agency guidance; EN. Source date . Archived manifest id: irs-publication-570.

About this guide

Scope and editorial record
Applies as of
Published
Last modified
Jurisdiction
United States federal
Applies to
Individuals taking a United States federal tax position that they began or ended bona fide residence in Puerto Rico; Tax years governed by the October 2024 Form 8898 instructions, until the IRS issues a later revision
Author
Ben Guo, publisher and product author
Review
Publisher-reviewed against the October 2024 IRS form instructions and 2025 Publication 570. No attorney, CPA, or enrolled agent has professionally reviewed this guide.
Next source review

Ben Guo publishes and builds act60.me from his own planning research. He is not presented here as a Puerto Rico attorney, CPA, enrolled agent, historian, or cultural reviewer.

Revision history
  • : Initial guide published using the October 2024 IRS revision and an explicit per-spouse, worldwide-gross-income explanation.