All of the information you need to file taxes can be found on the Tax Information section of our site, but we want to give you some reminders, especially for those of you new to the world of U.S. Tax Returns!
Update: Cintax is now called “Glacier Tax Prep.”
Each year CIE purchases access to CINTAX, an online software that can be used by international students and scholars to fill out their tax forms. Passwords for the software are not yet available, but we hope to have them in the next month (more information below).
Everyone who was employed last year should receive a W-2 and/or a 1042-S form from their employer. If you do not receive such a form from every U.S. employer by the middle of February, you should contact them to ask about it.
If you were employed by UT:
- UT Payroll Office is located in P115 Andy Holt Tower, Knoxville, TN 37996; Phone number (865) 974-5251.
- If you have an active Net ID you can also get your W-2 online.
- If you are outside the U.S. and do not have a NetID, e-mail achesne2@utk.edu if you have not received your W-2 by the end of February.
Note: Most of you with 2011 salaries will receive either a W-2 OR a 1042-S, but not both. If you do receive both, add the salary amounts together. This amount should be the total salary you received in 2011.
If you had a scholarship from a U.S. source in 2011 which paid for any living expenses (anything other than university tuition and fees or books), then you should have received a Form 1099 or 1042-S from your scholarship organization. Instead of a form, you may receive a letter from the scholarship agency stating the amount of your scholarship and what it was used for. If you did not receive this form or letter, contact your scholarship organization. (If your scholarship covered only tuition fees, then you will probably not receive these forms or letters, and you do not need them.) A scholarship received for tuition or books is not taxable income and you do not declare it on a tax return. (Remember: If you are a Tax Non-resident, you do not need to declare or pay taxes on scholarships from outside the U.S.)
Forms & Deadlines for Filing taxes:
- If you were employed last year, you must file a “U.S. income tax return” before April 17, 2012, using the forms that you received from your employers/scholarship organization.
- If you were not employed in the U.S. in 2011, then your forms must be filed by June 15, 2012. Even if you or your dependents had no U.S. income at all, you may need to file a Form 8843.
Here are some tips to get you started:
1. If this is your first year filing taxes in the U.S. we recommend that you read the section “Tax Information for Newcomers” or our website.
2. All tax forms and publications are available on the IRS website. We suggest that you Look at Publication 519 and the Instructions for the Form 1040NR-EZ.
3. The IRS (Internal Revenue Services) will never contact you by e-mail. So if you receive an e-mail that looks like it is from the IRS, IT IS NOT! These e-mails, called “phishing” and the IRS would like you to report such fraud to them on their website.
4. We expect that students at the UT Law School will again be running a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site this year. The VITA site provides free help with tax returns for people with incomes under $50,000 or aged over 60 years. We will send more details about the times and location of the VITA site as soon as we have them.
5. Before you do your tax return, you will need to know if you are a Tax Resident or Non-Resident. This may not be the same as your immigration residency (even if you do not have a Green Card, you might be a Tax Resident).
- Our Tax Information section has instructions on how to calculate your Tax Residency status.
- CINTAX can also tell you if you are a tax resident or not.
- If you have a complicated immigration history and cannot figure out your residency after reading the information on our site, you can make an appointment with Wendy Syer, CIE staff, to get help in calculating your residency. Please bring with you a completed tax residency worksheet (available on our website).
6. CIE will again subscribe to the CINTAX software program which will prepare the tax returns for most Tax Non-residents. To use this program, you will need a password; you may then access the software from any computer inside or outside the U.S. The CINTAX password is NOT YET available. We will send you another e-mail message when CINTAX can be used.
7. If you were a Tax Resident in 2011 you may not use CINTAX. There are a number of other software programs (such as TurboTax) which you can use; some of these programs are available for free on the IRS website if your adjusted gross income was less than $57,000. However, you may find that these programs are not equipped to apply any treaties that you are entitled to.
8. If you want to address your tax questions to the IRS, you may call the IRS at
1-800-829-1040 and ask for a Non-resident Specialist. The staff at the Knoxville IRS office are not able to answer Non-resident Tax questions.
Finally, remember that CIE Advisors cannot assists you with tax related issues. But we truly hope the resources listed here will assist you with your tax returns.
Happy Tax Filing! Watch for the CINTAX announcement coming soon!
