Tax Resources for International Students

The United States has special tax rules for nonresidents, and there are additional special rules that apply to international students in F-1 or J-1 immigration status.  Since these special rules, like the rest of the U.S. tax code, are complex, the International Center has licensed GLACIER Tax Prep for international students to use to prepare nonresident federal (national) income tax forms.   If you have been an F-1 or J-1 student for five years or less (you entered the U.S. as an F-1/J-1 student in 2008 or later), you are probably a tax nonresident and can use GLACER Tax Prep.  You should not use tax preparation software designed for tax residents (TurboTax® is one example), since that software does not support preparation of nonresident federal tax forms.

Your deadline may be April 15, 2013 or June 17, 2013. See the deadlines sections of NonResidents for Tax Purposes for details.

GLACIER Tax Prep will verify that you are a tax nonresident and will take the special nonresident tax regulations and any applicable tax treaties into account as it prepares your tax forms.  It will then prepare a PDF containing an instruction sheet and your tax forms for you to print, sign, and mail. (Nonresident federal tax forms cannot be filed online.)

It’s important to understand all F-1 and J-1 students who are tax nonresidents and who were in the U.S. in 2012 are required to file tax forms with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. This includes students who did not have any U.S. income and students whose countries have tax treaties with the U.S.  If you didn’t have any U.S. income in 2012 you will not owe tax, but a tax form is still required. GLACIER Tax Prep can prepare that form for you.  If you did have U.S. income in 2012, U-M or another employer may have subtracted (“withheld”) money for taxes.  However, you are still required to submit a tax return form, which GLACIER Tax Prep can prepare. This is how the final amount of tax due is calculated, and this is how you determine whether the U.S. government owes you a refund or whether you are required to pay an additional amount in tax.  

If you have been in the United States long enough to be considered a tax resident, you can follow the same guidelines and use the same forms as U.S. citizens.  The last two resources listed below may also be helpful.

RESOURCES: 

•  GLACIER Tax Prep (U-M uniqname/password required)
• GLACIER Tax Prep FAQs
• International Center Tax Information
• Tax information for tax residents
•  Tax assistance for tax residents

Prepared by Louise Baldwin