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Dear International Students and Scholars, If you have taxable income in the United States, you are responsible to reconcile whether you have paid the required tax on that income by filing a tax return, and paying any tax you owe, by the required deadline each year. If you are an international student or scholar with no income, you may still need to file the Form 8843 with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, which you fill out to tell the U.S. government that you should not be taxed as a U.S. resident. The deadline to mail your federal and state tax return for 2017 is quickly approaching. If you arrived here in 2018, you do not have to do anything for your taxes until next year. Form 8843 International students should complete this form for the first 5 tax years that you are present in the U.S. with your F-1 or J-1 visa. International scholars should complete this form for the first two of the last six years of presence in the U.S. on a J-1 visa. If you have dependents who were in the U.S. during a given tax year, they need to file separate forms. More information and filing instructions for Form 8843 can be found here<https://accounting.business.uconn.edu/undergraduate/vita-program/form-8843-filing-instructions/>. Deadline to mail your form: If you have taxable income and need to file a federal tax return, include Form 8843 with your federal tax return and mail by April 17th (see below). If you have no income and only need to submit Form 8843, mail by June 15th. Mail Form 8843 to the address in the Form 8843 filing instructions. You can use a stamp and regular envelope to mail your form. Federal Tax Return If you had taxable income in the U.S. for 2017, your deadline to mail your federal (U.S.) tax return is April 17th. There are several ways you can prepare your U.S. tax return. 1. UConn Vita Tax Program: Register<https://accounting.business.uconn.edu/undergraduate/vita-program/form-8843-filing-instructions/> for the UConn VITA Tax Preparation session, held at the Storrs campus. Student volunteers are trained to prepare tax returns for international students and scholars who are classified as nonresident aliens and residents for tax purposes. If you register for a UConn VITA Tax Preparation session you must attend your session or cancel within a reasonable period of time. Otherwise you will not be able to use this service in the future. This program can only support tax returns for individuals with Connecticut state income, so if you have income from multiple states (for example, if you did a paid internship in another state), then you will not be able to use this service. 2. Sprintax: If you were a taxed as a non-resident alien for 2017 then you can access Sprintax tax software<https://www.sprintax.com/> to file your Form 8843 and federal tax return at no-cost, provided that your visa was sponsored by UConn during 2017 OR you are a UConn student/scholar with a J visa from an outside sponsor (e.g. Fulbright, USAID, etc.) during 2017. Generally, F and J students are taxed as nonresident aliens for first 5 tax years of presence, and J visiting scholars are taxed as nonresident alien for two of the last 6 tax years of presence. To request a code to file your federal income tax return and Form 8843 for free, email [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> . Include your full name and Peoplesoft number in the email. Sprintax is an online tax software that helps prepare the nonresident alien tax return and form 8843. Sprintax will also prepare any state tax returns that you need to file, for an extra cost. You can also create a Sprintax account to determine whether you are a nonresident alien for tax purposes or resident alien. If the questionnaire determines you are a nonresident alien, you can proceed to use the program to prepare your federal tax forms. If the program determines you are a resident alien, you will not be able to use Sprintax to prepare your tax return, but you can use any of the other free online tax software programs used by U.S. tax residents. If the program determines you are a resident alien, you are not required to File Form 8843 with your federal tax return. State Taxes You may also need to file a Connecticut state tax return: -If you had income from a Connecticut source exceeding 15,000 and you are a single tax payer OR -you had Connecticut income of any amount, and state tax was withheld that you wish to have returned to you if it turns out you don't owe that tax You must have completed you federal return to complete your state return. If you attend the UConn Vita tax program, they can also prepare your CT tax return as part of their service. If you use Sprintax to file your federal return, you can pay to have your state tax return prepared as well. Alternately, you may complete the forms yourself and mail to the Connecticut Department of Revenue Service with any payment owed by April 17. If you are a nonresident alien for federal tax purposes, it may be confusing to determine which CT state tax return you need to file. This guide<http://www.ct.gov/drs/cwp/view.asp?a=1462&q=271750> gives international student residency examples that can help you determine which CT State Tax form to fill out (scroll to bottom of the page). If you have federal income that is considered non-taxable by a tax treaty, this tax treaty benefit does not apply to your Connecticut income. See the CT Nonresident Alien<http://www.ct.gov/drs/cwp/view.asp?a=1462&q=271750> page for further details. If you worked in other states, you may be liable to complete a state tax return for those states as well. Please be advised that ISSS cannot answer tax questions and we provide the above information as a courtesy. We are not tax experts. We strongly recommend that you utilize the UConn VITA Program or Sprintax to complete all required tax forms, and ask your questions to these agencies if you need further assistance. Thank you, Rae Alexander Director International Student and Scholar Services UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT GLOBAL AFFAIRS 2011 Hillside Road, U-1083 STORRS, CT 06269-1083 PHONE: 860.486.3855 | EMAIL: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> http://isss.uconn.edu<http://isss.uconn.edu/> | www.facebook.com/UConnISSS<http://www.facebook.com/UConnISSS> | ISSS Walk-In Advising: MON - FRI: 1:00 - 3:30 pm ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the INTERNATIONAL-L list, click the following link: https://ListServ.Uconn.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=INTERNATIONAL-L&A=1