Immigration Advising

Income Tax Information for International Students

All international students in F, J. M and Q non-immigrant status and their dependents are responsible for filing certain income tax forms each year, even if you have no United States source income. International students and their dependents who were present in the U.S. in the year 2002 but did not receive any U.S. income, are required to file IRS Form 8843 by April 15, 2003, in order to document their status as a non-resident alien who is exempt from counting days toward the substantial presence test. 

Also, please be reminded that you are responsible for assessing and meeting your tax obligations as one of the requirements for maintaining your legal non-immigrant status.

International students who were present in the U.S. in 2001and received U.S. income must complete and file IRS Form 8843 and IRS Form 1040NR-EQ or IRS Form 1040NR with the Internal Revenue Service by April 15, 2002. These forms and instructions can be obtained from major U.S. Post Office locations, from any public library, or downloaded from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Web site at: www.irs.gov (click on Forms and Publication Finder, type in the form number above, hit "go") 

In addition, international students may want to obtain the following publications for assistance in filing your taxes:

• Publication 519: U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens. This publication includes useful information on how to determine resident or non-resident status for tax purposes; the kinds of income that are taxed; how to claim exemption by treaty; and much more.
• Publication 901: U.S. Tax Treaties. This publication lists treaties and agreements the U.S. has with foreign countries in effect at the time of publication each year.

Unfortunately, due to budget cutbacks, the Internal Revenue Service will not send out bulk orders of the publications listed above. For this reason, the Office of International Student Affairs is not able to obtain these publications for our international students. However, you can obtain individual copies of these publications from the IRS online address, or pick them up at a federal building location. 

You can obtain forms and publications at the following locations:

• U.S. Post Office: Moraine Valley Facility, 7300 West 100th Street, Bridgeview, Illinois
• Internal Revenue Service: forms are available online at www.irs.gov

Additionally, forms and publications are usually available at local libraries and banks, and through local tax preparation offices which provide this service for a fee.

Taxpayer Assistance
For assistance in completing your U.S. federal income tax forms, you may call a special tax assistance number for Non-Resident Aliens at the IRS Philadelphia Service Center at (215) 516-2000 between 4 a.m. and Midnight Central Standard Time. Sorry, but there is no toll-free number for this service. You may also http://www.morainevalley.edu/search_google.aspx the IRS home page at www.irs.gov.

If you still have questions, you may also e-mail your question directly to the IRS at http://apps.irs.gov/help/newmail/user.html. A representative will respond to your question within 24 hours.

If you do not want to complete this task on your own, you may also wish to use a local tax preparation service, such as H & R Block, Jackson Hewitt, or various others. These are easily found in the local area, so check the telephone book, or ask a local friend for some advice or recommendation. Many such offices are located in local shopping malls.

Illinois State Income Tax Forms
If you received U.S. source income during 2001, you must also file certain Illinois State income tax forms, including Form IL-1040 and Schedule NR, with the Illinois Department of Revenue by April 15, 2003. These forms can also be obtained at major U.S. Post Office locations, from most public libraries, or may be downloaded from the Illinois Department of Revenue Web site at: www.revenue.state.il.us/forms

Please Note:
The staff in the Office of International Student Affairs are not income tax specialists nor are we authorized or have a license to practice tax law. Therefore, we are not able to give specific advice to individual students about how to complete your tax forms at this time. If you have questions, please use the resources listed above. 

Be sure to make clear photocopies of all of your tax forms for your own records before mailing the forms to IRS.