International Student Taxes

Disclaimer:

• Resident or Non-Resident?

  • International students on F or J visas are automatically considered nonresidents for tax purposes for their first 5 calendar years in the U.S.
  • International scholars on J visas are considered nonresidents for tax purposes for their first 2 out of the last 6 calendar years in the U.S.
  • Filing taxes is mandatory for all nonresident students, whether they earned income or not, and failure to do so may result in penalties, and fines, or impact your immigration status.

• Who Must File What?

  • F-1 and J-1 students who were physically present in the U.S. between January 1 and December 31 of the previous year are required to complete the IRS Form 8843, regardless of the number of days present or whether income was received.
  • Nonresidents who have received U.S. taxable earnings or income over $0 must complete the 1040-NR form as a Federal filing requirement. See instructions.
    • Income includes employment, stipends, etc. Income does not include scholarships for tuition or money transferred from relatives overseas.
  • For Utah Income Tax (if you received a W-2) please see the form TC-40 and instructions.

• Important Tax Documents

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    Passport

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    Visa/Immigration Documents, including I-20 (F-1) & DS-2019 (J-1)

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    Social Security Number/ITIN
    (if you have one)

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    W-2
    (Usually issued by the employer’s HR office by the end of January of the following year)

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    1042-S Form
    (Only Non-resident students receive this form.)

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    Your Most recent I-94

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    1099 Form
    (If applicable, the HR office will mail this to you.)

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    1098-T Form
    (Although you will receive this form, international nonresident students are ineligible for this claim and must only be for record purposes.)

• What Happens if You Don’t File Taxes (or file incorrectly)?

  • Not filing could affect future immigration status.
  • Contact a non-resident tax expert for correcting a filing or back filing previous years taxes.
  • Fines, penalties and interest can accrue if the IRS is owed money.
  • Might be missing out on a refund.