Tax Obligations in the U.S.

If you are in F or J status (including F-2 and J-2), United States law requires that you complete and submit tax forms for each year that you reside in the U.S., whether or not you have earned income.

1. All students must submit Form 8843 (PDF, ) by Mid-April of each year for the prior year.
    It takes just a few minutes to count how long you have been in the U.S. Instructions on how to complete the Required Form 8843 (PDF, )
2. In addition, if you have earned income or been given a scholarship, you need to fill out and submit one of the following forms by Mid-April of each year for the prior year. All forms can be downloaded from the IRS website.new window
   1. Form 1040NR (There is no form 1040NR-EZ for 2021) – if you qualify as a Non-Resident. 
   2. Form 1040 (the regular US Citizen and permanent resident form) – Use this ONLY if you lived in the U.S. for at least 5 years and pass the Substantial Presence Test (which sometimes applies even if you are here on visa status - This is why you fill out the form 8843 each year...to count years to see if you use this form or not)

If you have income from a job or scholarship, you MUST also include the statements below with your paperwork to the IRS.  These statements show the income and any taxes already ‘withheld’ (paid for you) on that income. You may need to send more than one form, depending on the kind of money you earned.

• W-2 Statement (a statement of your earned wages from work.  Your employer must mail it to you or have it available for you to download.

If you see Medicare, or Social security tax on your W2 (as shown in this example (PDF, ) ), see the instructions for how to get that money back. (PDF, )

• 1099 Form (a statement of income from a ‘contract’ job or interest you earned on a U.S. bank account.  Only interest over $10 must be reported). Instructions on how to fill out a 1099 form. (PDF, )
• 1042-S Form (a statement of any scholarship or income eligible for tax treaty benefits) 

Contact your employers, banks, or scholarship offices if you didn't receive these forms from them.

Additional help:

• DO NOT USE TurboTax (unless you are filing form 1040).  TurboTax and other tax preparation programs are designed for US Citizens, Permanent Residents, and those who passed the Substantial Presence Test, who are filing form 1040.
  
  
• Non-immigrants (like most of you) would use Sprintaxnew window. Sprintax is offering our students free webinars (PDF, ) to help you understand and complete simple tax forms.  They will also help you determine if you need a professional to prepare your taxes or not. 
  
  
  • Sprintax has just launched our nonresident tax blog on Cryptocurrency!
    IRS has been liaising with crypto-exchanges for information regarding non-compliant taxpayers and over the last two years, the IRS announced it was sending letters to more than 10,000 people who potentially failed to report cryptocurrency income.
    Should nonresidents in the US report Cryptocurrency on their tax return?new window
    
    
  • The International Office at Montgomery College has Discount Codes for up to 30 students who want to use Sprintax.  Contact the office for your code.
    
    
  • The Sprintax web site offers webinars from prior yearsnew window and additional information about special situations.
    
    
• Visit US Tax Preparation for Nonresidents (Blog)new window or YouTube playlistnew window. You can also check VITAnew window for help from volunteers trained in tax assistance. Remember to tell the person helping you about your F1 status so you do not pay the wrong tax amount. 
  
  
• Make copies of all documents and forms you send out for your own records!

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The deadline to file taxes for 2021 is April 18, 2022. 
Send all Federal tax return forms to:

Internal Revenue Service Center
Austin, Texas 73301-0215

Note: If you need to file taxes, DO NOT USE TurboTax. Instead, use Sprintaxnew window (Contact our office for a discount code).

All students must submit Form 8843 by Mid-April of each year for the prior year. It takes just a few minutes and ‘counts’ how long you have been in the US.

Helpful Links

• Required Form 8843 Instructions (PDF, )  

Scholarships or Fellowships from the U.S. are tax-free if they are used under the terms of the grant for College tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment, which are required for courses at the educational institution.  The portions of the scholarship or fellowship from the U.S. that is used for other expenses, such as room and board and travel are taxable. Also, students are generally exempt from tax on remittances (including scholarships and fellowship grants) received from abroad for study and living costs. So whether a scholarship or fellowship is taxable depends on its source and its use under the terms of the grant.

Interest Income (interest on bank deposits, certificates of deposit/CDs, savings bonds, deposits in credit unions) is not subject to U.S. tax if received by a nonresident alien.

At Montgomery College, we do not claim to be experts in the US tax law.  We are providing this information as a service to you.  Please be aware that you individually are fully responsible for accurately reporting your situation to the IRS.  We advise students who have a difficult tax situation to obtain guidance from a professional tax preparation service.

TAX RETURN: A “Tax Return” allows persons who had taxes withheld (by their employer or bank) to determine if they paid the correct taxes or not.  They may get a refund or (in rare cases) need to pay additional taxes.

The information detailed below is for F and J visa holders who have remained in the United States for five years or less.  By IRS definition, these people qualify for non-resident status when filing their taxes.  For F visa holders who have been in the United States for more than 5 calendar years, the IRS may consider you as residents even though you are not a resident by immigration (USCIS) standards; that is you do not have a green card.  This information has been extracted from the National Association of Foreign Student Advisor’s “US Federal Income Tax Guide for International Students and Scholars” and from the Internal Revenue Service’s “Foreign Student Text.”  For more complete information on the Substantial Presence Test, please consult IRS Publication 519-US Tax Guide For Aliens.  If you pass the Substantial Presence Test, you must file your taxes as a resident of the United States and must use Form 1040EZ, 1040A or 1040.  These forms may be obtained on-line at www.irs.gov or sometimes at your local post office or library. 

FORM 8843:  ALL non-resident (as defined above) F-1 and J-1 students and F-2 or J-2 dependents are required to submit Form 8843 “Statement for Exempt Individuals,” whether or not you had any income. 

1. Get a Form 8843 (ALL students) and a Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ (only if you have income to declare).  (If you have dependents, you must use the regular Form 1040NR .  If you don’t have dependents, you should use the Form 1040NR-EZ, which is much easier to fill out.)   You may obtain the forms by calling the IRS’ forms order line at 1 800 TAX FORM (which is 1 800 829-3676).  Remember to order a Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ, a Form 8843, a copy of Publication 519 “US Tax Guide for Aliens,” and a copy of Publication 901, “US Tax Treaties.”  You may also download these forms and publications from the IRS’ website at http://www.irs.gov.  Search for the form by number and year (example 1040NR-EZ of the Prior Calendar year).  You may file several years of these if needed.
2. Before you start to complete the forms, make several copies.  Complete a draft in pencil on the copies.  After you finish and correct your draft, complete the original form in ink.  

FORMS USED TO SHOW INCOME AND TAXES ALREADY PAID: Non-resident (as defined above) students and dependents with any taxable U.S. income must file a form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ.   Also, anyone whose income is not taxable due to treaty exemption must file the 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ.  See Publication 901, “US Tax Treaties,” for information about whether your country has tax agreements with the U.S.  In some cases the treaty will explain that certain types of income are taxed only in the person'’ country of legal residence (home country).  Also, students are generally exempt from tax on remittances (including scholarships and fellowship grants) received from abroad for study and living costs.  

W-2 FORM: Provides the information on: Total Wages earned, Taxable Wages earned, Federal (US) Tax "withheld" (already kept from the wages and given to the government, State Tax withheld, Social Security* (SSI) Tax withheld, Medicare* Tax withheld.  One copy must be sent with EACH tax return sent (Federal, State, County -if needed). Keep one for your personal record.   

1099: Interest Income (interest on bank deposits, certificates of deposit/CDs, savings bonds, deposits in credit unions) is not subject to U.S. tax if received by a nonresident alien.
A person working as a "independent contractor" (for example as a Caterer or Computer Programmer) may receive a 1099 instead of a W-2.   

1042-S Form

Scholarships or Fellowships from the U.S. are tax-free if they are used under the terms of the grant for College tuition, fees, books, supplies, and equipment, which are required for courses at the educational institution.  The portions of the scholarship or fellowship from the U.S. that is used for other expenses, such as room and board and travel are taxable.

So whether a scholarship or fellowship is taxable depends on its source and its use under the terms of the grant.  Generally, Montgomery College Scholarships are for educational expenses only and are not taxable.

Students may receive a form 1098-T to show the tuition paid during the previous year. This cannot usually be used by F-1 students but, if you have a US sponsor and have been living here over 5 years, you should ask an international tax advisor. To get more information about this form, please refer to our Information about IRS Form 1098 - T page.