Federal
If you are in F, J or H status and a nonresident alien for tax purposes:
If you received U.S. source income in the current calendar year, you are required to file a federal tax return with the IRS (Internal Revue Service). You must complete and mail IRS Form 1040-NR and IRS Form 8843. You must file a federal tax return form even if your employer deducted ("withheld") money from your paycheck for federal taxes. The amount that is deducted from your paychecks is an estimated amount, so you may in fact, owe tax if an insufficient amount was withheld based on the IRS standard amounts. If the estimated amount deducted from your paychecks is higher than what you should have paid based on the IRS standard, you may receive a refund of taxes. Therefore, you must file a tax form to calculate the difference between what you owe and what you paid. Even if a tax treaty was applied to your paychecks during the year and the amount you owe in taxes is reduced or eliminated, you are still required to file a federal tax return with the IRS. You would file IRS Form 1040-NR and Form 8843. The GLACIER Tax Prep link on the Glacier system will provide these forms, if applicable. Not filing a tax return is a violation of U.S. tax law.
Filing tax documents each year is an important part of maintaining your immigration status and is a federal requirement for international visitors and their dependents. Not filing your required taxes documents could lead to penalties, such as a fine, or even negatively impact your immigration status.
If you apply for future immigration benefits, such as H-1B, Permanent Residency, or other statuses, you will likely be asked to provide copies of tax filings for all previous years you were in the U.S. If you forgot or didn't file in previous years when you should have, the IRS recommends that you file now for previous years. You can find the relevant forms from past years on the IRS website. The IRS expects you to file your taxes each year--even if you file late. Penalties for late filing may include fines, interest on taxes owed, or other consequences.
Form 8843
IRS Form 8843 is a tax form used by foreign nationals to document the number of days spent outside of the U.S. and to help determine tax responsibility. All F and J foreign nationals (and their F-2/J-2 dependents) who are nonresident aliens for tax purposes are required to file Form 8843. You will file this form whether or not you received income or are filing a tax return. You must file Form 8843 if BOTH of the following conditions are met:
- You were present in the U.S. in F/J status for any portion of the previous calendar year (the year for which you are filing)
- You are a nonresident alien for tax purposes.
Dependents (including children, regardless of age) should complete a separate Form 8843 independent of the F-1/J-1.
State
Some international students and scholars are required to file a State of Ohio Tax Form: http://tax.ohio.gov/. If you worked in more than one U.S. state during the past calendar year, you may have to file tax returns in all the states in which you resided or worked. You should check the state revenue website of the other state(s) where you worked or lived for assistance in determining your tax filing obligations. The GLACIER Tax Prep link on the Glacier system only provides assistance with the Federal tax return.
City/Local
Some cities require completion of a tax return for all residents. You should check with the city you live in.