1040NR-EZ Instructions (Page 1)
Federal Income Tax Filing Guide for Most F-1 and J-1 Students Who
Had U.S. Source Income in 2008
This information is provided by the Office of International Education for your convenience. We are not legal tax advisors. Please consult an income tax advisor or company for tax laws and tax liability not covered here.
Please note
Belmont business students offer assistance in filling out tax forms through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Please contact Brad Childs, 460-6485, childsb@mail.belmont.edu or Marilyn Young, 460-5551, youngm@mail.belmont.edu for more information.
Also note that the links to forms on this page require Adobe Acrobat Reader (available here).
This is a general guide to the completion of Form 1040NR-EZ, U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Nonresident Aliens With No Dependents. You should use this guide only if you are a student in F-1 or J-1 status who meets all of the following three conditions: 1) you were a non-resident for federal income tax purposes in 2008, 2) you had 2008 U.S. source income only from a scholarship or fellowship, employment (including a teaching assistantship or research assistantship) or bank interest (which is not subject to U.S. tax), and 3) you have determined by reviewing the section following Question 6 on Tax Information (Questions 4 - 6) webpage that you should use Form 1040NR-EZ instead of the longer Form 1040NR.
In addition to this guide, you will need a copy of Form 1040NR-EZ, the Internal Revenue Service Instructions for Form 1040NR-EZ, and a copy of Form 8843 to complete your 2007 federal income tax return.
Following are line by line instructions to help you complete your Form 1040NR-EZ. Please read them carefully and refer to the IRS Instructions for Form 1040NR-EZ for further assistance.
But first, before you proceed, review the section "May I Use Form 1040NR-EZ" on page 1 of the IRS Instructions for Form 1040NR-EZ to make sure that you should use Form 1040NR-EZ.
Page 1Name, Address, etc.: Enter your name, address, and social security number (do not use a Belmont ID number). Use your current U.S. address for 'Present home address' unless you plan to leave the U.S. shortly (use your foreign address in this case).
Filing Status: Check the box on line 1 if you are single; check the box on line 2 if your are married. (If you are married, your spouse does not work, and you are from Canada, Mexico, Korea, or Japan, you should use Form 1040NR instead of this form.)
Line 3: Write the total amount of your wages that appears in Box 1 on the Form(s) W-2 that your employer(s) sent you in January 2009. (Unless you can exclude some of these wages under a tax treaty. Please consult IRS Publication 901, for a list of countries and tax treaties as they apply to students.)
Line 4: Leave this line blank unless you received a refund in 2008 of state or city income taxes that you paid in 2007 or a previous year.Line 5: If you received a taxable non-service scholarship or fellowship from the University (or another grantor) in 2008, enter the amount here. By March 15, 2009 the University or other grantor should provide you with a Form 1042-S reporting your 2008 taxable scholarship or fellowship income. If you had taxable non-service scholarship or fellowship income, you cannot complete your 2008 federal income tax return until you receive your Form 1042-S. [Note: Forms 1042-S for 2008 will not include the non-taxable portion of a scholarship or fellowship that paid for tuition and fees. Before 2001 this non-taxable amount was reported and had to be noted on your income tax return. For 2008 it will not be reported and it does not have to be noted on your return.]
(Please beware: Line 5 should only be used to report non-service scholarship income. If you had teaching assistantship or research assistantship income that was reported on your University Form W-2, that income should be included on Line 3; it should not be placed on Line 5.)
It is usually sufficient to attach one copy of your Form 1042-S to your Form 1040NR-EZ before mailing it to IRS. IRS will sometimes, however, send your tax return back to you with a request for more detailed information about your scholarship. (This is especially likely if you are claiming deductions for 'course-related materials;' see instructions for Line 8, below.) To avoid this possibility you may want to attach a scholarship award letter from the University or another scholarship granting organization to your Form 1040NR-EZ (in addition to Form 1042-S).
Also, if your scholarship grant was covered by a tax treaty, see IRS Publication 901 before completing Line 5.
Line 6: Leave this line blank unless you were entitled to a tax treaty benefit. Please consult IRS Publication 901, for a list of countries and tax treaties as they apply to students.
Line 7: Add the amounts on Lines 3, 4 and 5 and write the sum here.
Line 8: If you reported taxable non-service scholarship or fellowship income on Line 5 you should enter here any portion of the scholarship or fellowship reported to you on Form 1042-S that you spent for mandatory fees not paid directly by your scholarship and "course-related materials." (Course-related materials include books, photocopying, and stationery supplies that you purchased for courses that you took at the University.) Please note that you may enter an amount on Line 8 only if you reported scholarship income on Line 5. (You may not deduct mandatory fees or course-related materials from wage income reported on Line 3.)
If you deduct course-related materials it is a good idea to attach a statement (i.e. a brief note) to your tax return itemizing these expenses (e.g. Books: $740; Photocopying: $125; etc.). This will reduce the possibility that IRS will send your tax return back to you with a request for more information about your scholarship.
Line 9: If you paid any interest in 2008 on a student loan, see page 6 of the instructions for Form 1040NR-EZ to determine if you can deduct a portion of your student loan interest payments here.
Line 10: Subtract any amounts on Lines 8 and 9 from the amount on Line 7 and write the remainder here. This is your "adjusted gross income," your income before taking the tax-reducing exemptions and deductions that you are entitled to.
Line 11: Add together all of the state and city (or local) income taxes that you paid in 2008. The state taxes that you paid are reported in Box 17 and the city taxes that you paid are reported in Box 19 on your Form(s) W-2. Add these amounts together and place the total on Line 11.
Line 12: Subtract the amount of your state and city taxes on Line 11 from your income on Line 10 and write the remainder here.
Line 13: Write "$3,500" on Line 13. This is the amount of the "personal exemption" for 2008. You do not have to pay U.S. income tax on the portion of your income covered by the personal exemption. Note: If you are married, your spouse does not work, and you are from Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan or India, you can claim additional personal exemptions, but you must use Form 1040NR to do so.
Line 14: Subtract the amount on Line 13 from the amount on Line 12. This is your taxable income, the portion of your total income that is subject to U.S. income tax.
Line 15: Consult the Tax Table in the IRS instruction booklet to determine your U.S. income tax. Find the row in the Tax Table that includes your taxable income (the amount on Line 14) and read your tax from the "Single" column of the Tax Table if you are single or from the "Married filing separately" column of the Tax Table if you are married. (You may not use the "Single" column if you are married.) Enter the amount of your tax on Line 15.
Line 16: If you meet the conditions described at the beginning of these instructions, you should leave this line blank.
Line 17: Repeat the amount on Line 17 that you wrote on Line 15 (unless you entered an amount on Line 16).
Line 18: Enter here the total amount of federal (U.S.) income tax that your employer(s) or grantor(s) withheld from you in 2008. These amounts are reported to you in Box 2 of Form(s) W-2, and in Box (g) of Form(s) 1042-S. (Do not include here state and city income taxes withheld from you.)
Line 19: Leave this line blank unless you made a tax payment to the IRS using Form 1040NR-ES or Form 1040-ES in 2008.
Line 20: Leave this line blank unless you made a tax payment using Form 1040-C in 2008.
Line 21: Add the amounts on Lines 18, 19, and 20 and write the total here. This is the amount of federal income tax that you have already paid.
Line 22-26: Compare the amount that you have already paid, on Line 21, with the amount that you owe, on Line 17.
If Line 21 is more than Line 17, that is if you have paid more than you owe, write the amount of your overpayment on Line 22. If you want the Internal Revenue Service to send you a check for this overpayment, write the amount of your overpayment on Line 23a (i.e. write the same amount that you wrote on Line 22.) If you would like the IRS to transfer the amount of your overpayment directly to your bank account electronically, complete Lines 23b, 23c, and 23d (to determine the routing number for your bank account required in 23b, see the IRS instructions for Form 1040NR-EZ or ask your bank). If you would rather have all or part of your 2007 overpayment credited toward your 2008 taxes, write the desired amount in Line 25. (Very few people will want to do this; if you do you must remember to record this amount a year from now on your 2009 income tax return, or you may fail to receive credit for this pre-payment.)If Line 21 is less than Line 17, that is if you owe more than you've paid, write the amount you owe on Line 25. Attach a check for this amount, payable to "IRS," to your 1040NR-EZ when you mail it in.
Note: If you owe more than you can pay now, pay as much as you can and request an installment payment plan from IRS by attaching IRS Form 9465 to your 1040NR-EZ. (IRS will usually accept a reasonable request, but will continue to charge interest on an unpaid balance.)
Line 26: In most cases if you owed more than $500 in federal income tax at the end of 2008, you will have to pay IRS an "estimated tax penalty," that is, you will have to pay interest on your unpaid tax. The exact amount of interest that you owe is virtually impossible to calculate. It is easier simply to leave this line blank and let IRS calculate this amount and send you a bill. You can trust IRS not to forget to bill you.
Sign Here: Sign and date your 1040NR-EZ. Write "student" in the right hand box that says "Your occupation in the United States." (Leave the "Paid Preparer's Use Only" block blank.)
Continue on to 1040NR EZ Page 2 to complete page 2 and Form 8843.
