Income Taxes

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Remember that you will need to file an income tax return for the previous year (2006) even if you are abroad in the spring semester. If you worked on campus or received a scholarship/award in 2006, you will receive a W-2 form and/or a 1042S form from Financial Services in January, 2007; you will need these forms to file your tax return. The forms will be sent to your campus box, and, unless you have provided Mail Services with a forwarding address, the forms will eventually be sent to your home address. To avoid any delays in receiving these important documents, please complete the online forwarding address form and submit it to Mail Services as soon as possible. (Note that the address you provide will be used for forwarding all first-class mail that comes to your campus box.) If you worked elsewhere, that employer probably will send your W-2 form to your home address; contact your employer directly if you would like the form sent to a different address.

• If you are a US Citizen, Permanent Resident (“green card” holder), or a Permanent Resident for tax purposes, you may file your tax return electronically, at no cost to you. (You are considered a permanent resident for tax purposes if you have lived for 5 years or more in the US but are not a US citizen or “green card” holder.)

• If you are a non-immigrant student (not a US citizen or permanent resident, and have not lived in the US for five years or more), you are obligated to file Form 8843, even if you did not work in the US. If you did work in the US in 2006, you must also file an income tax return. Detailed information for non-US citizens on filing a tax return can be found at International Students and Taxes.

• International students may not file taxes online: after you complete the return, you must mail it to the IRS. We recommend that you keep a photocopy of your return, and send it by registered mail. This way you will have a receipt to prove that you mailed in your tax return just in case it gets lost in the mail. If you have any questions, please email Donna Van Handle, Dean of International Students.