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:
- you were a non-resident for federal income tax purposes in 2006
- you had 2006 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).
- you have determined by reviewing the "General Tax Information Sheet for International Students and Scholars" that you should use Form 1040NR-EZ instead of the longer Form 1040NR.
In addition to this guide, you will need a copy of IRS Form 1040NR-EZ, the Internal Revenue Service 1040NR-EZ instruction booklet, and a copy of Form 8843 to complete your 2006 federal income tax return.
Be sure to 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.
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Line 1: Enter your first name and initial, and your last name in the appropriate boxes. (Be sure your name matches the name in your current passport.) In the box "Identifying number", enter your social security number. If you do not have a social security number, you should request an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number by submitting Form W-7.
Line 2-4: Use your current U.S. address for "Present home address" unless you plan to leave the U.S. shortly (use your outside U.S. address in this case).
Line 5: Enter your country of citizenship or nationality during 2006.
Line 6: In the first box (on the left), enter your outside of U.S. address to which you want any refund check mailed. If you want any refund check mailed to your inside U.S. address that you entered above, write "same." In the second box (on the right), enter your home country address.
Filing Status: Check the box on #1 if you are single; check the box on #2 if you are married. (If you are married, your spouse had no income, and you are from Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan or a student from India, 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 2007. (Unless you can exclude some of these wages under a tax treaty. See
"How to Claim a Tax Treaty Benefit" for details.)
Line 4: Leave this line blank unless you received a refund in 2006 of state or city income taxes that you paid in 2005 or a previous year (reported on Form 1099-G). If you are a student from India and took the standard deduction last year, do not put anything here even if you received a refund of state taxes.
Line 5: If you received a non-service scholarship or fellowship in 2006, enter the amount here. Include both the tuition and fee and stipend portions of your scholarship (although you do not pay tax on the tuition and fee portion and you will subtract this and other amounts on Line 9, below). By March 15, 2007 you should have received a Form 1042-S reporting your total scholarship or fellowship income for 2006. This will be designated on the Form 1042-S with income code 15. If you had non-service scholarship or fellowship income, you can not complete your 2006 federal income tax return until you receive your Form 1042-S.
(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 a 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 9, below.) To avoid this possibility, you may want to attach a scholarship award letter from the University or another scholarship granting organization (in addition to Form 1042-S).
Also, if your scholarship grant was covered by a tax treaty, see
"How to Claim a Tax Treaty Benefit" before completing Line 5.
Line 6: Leave this line blank unless you were entitled to a tax treaty benefit. See
"How to Claim a Tax Treaty Benefit" for details.
Line 7: Add the amounts on Lines 3, 4, and 5 and write the sum here.
Line 8: If you paid any interest in 2006 on a student loan, see page 5 of the IRS instructions to Form 1040NR-EZ to determine if you can deduct a portion of your student loan interest payments here.
Line 9: If you reported non-service scholarship or fellowship income on Line 5 you should enter here the portion of your scholarship or fellowship that you spent for tuition, mandatory fees 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 9 only if you reported scholarship income on Line 5. (You may not deduct tuition, mandatory fees and 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 10: Subtract any amount 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 2006. The state taxes that you paid are reported in Box 17 and the city taxes that you paid are reported in Box 21 on your Form(s) W-2. Add these amounts together and place the total on Line 11. (If you are a student and a citizen or resident of India, please see the separate sheet "Information for Indian Students about the U.S.-India Tax Treaty.")
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 "$3,300" on Line 13. This is the amount of the "personal exemption" for 2006. 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 lives with you but does not work, and you are from Canada, Mexico, Korea, Japan or a student from 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 on pages 11-15 of the IRS 1040NR-EZ 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 2006. 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: If during 2006 you submitted estimated tax payments to the IRS using Form 1040NR-ES or Form 1040-ES, write the total amount of those payments here.
Line 20: Leave this line blank unless you made a tax payment using Form 1040-C in 2006.
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.
Lines 22-25: 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, c, and d (to determine the routing number for your bank account required in 23, see page 5 of the IRS instructions for Form 1040NR-EZ or ask your bank).
If you would rather have all or part of your 2006 overpayment credited toward your 2007 taxes, write the desired amount in Line 26. (If you do this you must remember to record this amount a year from now on your 2006 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 $1000 in federal income tax at the end of 2006, 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.
Sign Here: Sign and date your 1040NR-EZ. Write your occupation in the right hand box that says "Your occupation in the United States." If you are a student, write "student." (Leave the "Paid Preparer's Use Only" block blank.)
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Line A: Write the name of the country whose passport you used to enter the U.S.
Line B: Indicate if you were ever a U.S. citizen or not.
Line C: Enter your purpose for stay at the University of Oregon. If you are a student, write "To study full-time at the University of Oregon" on this line. If you are a visiting professor or research scholar, write "Visiting professor at UO" or "Serve as a research scholar at UO."
Line D: Write the type of visa that you used to enter the U.S. (usually, but not always, F-1 or J-1). If you changed your visa status after entering the U.S., write your current status (i.e. visa type, J-1, F-1, etc.) on the second Line D.
Line E: Write here the date that you first entered the U.S. for your current purpose. If you attended another school before coming to UO, write the date you arrived to attend your first school. This date should match the date stamped on your I-94 card.
Line F: If you were never a permanent resident of the U.S., check the "No" box in Line F. (If you can answer "Yes" to this question you should not use these tax instructions.)
Line G: Reconstruct the dates you entered and left the U.S. in 2006 as accurately as you can and write those dates on Line G. Refer to the entry stamps in your passport for assistance.
Line H: Count as accurately as you can the days that you were in the U.S. in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and enter the numbers here.
Line I: Answer yes or no; if yes, write down the number of the form you filed (usually 1040NR-EZ) and the last year for which you filed.
Line J: Complete this section only if you can claim a tax treaty benefit. See "How to Claim a Tax Treaty Benefit" for details.
Line K: Answer no, unless you or someone on your behalf filed a labor certification application, a petition for permanent residence, an immigrant visa application or an application for adjustment of status during 2006. (If you entered the U.S. permanent residence diversity visa (DV) lottery but did not win, you should also answer no.)
Form 8843
Form 8843 - Statement for Exempt Individuals and Individuals With a Medical Condition is an IRS form used to declare your physical presence in the U.S. during 2006. This form must be completed by all international students and scholars regardless if they earned income in 2006.
Name and Social Security Number: On the first line, enter your first name and middle initial (if you have one) and then enter your last name. In the box, "your U.S. taxpayer identification number, if any" enter your Social Security Number (SSN) or your Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN).
PART I
Line 1a: Enter the visa type (F or J) and date you last entered the U.S. with.
Line 1b: Enter your current visa status (F or J). If you changed your visa status in the U.S., enter the date your current visa status was approved by USCIS.
Line 2: Enter your country of citizenship.
Line 3a: Enter the country which issued your passport.
Line 3b: Enter your passport number.
Line 4a: Enter the actual number of days you were present in the U.S. during 2006, 2005, 2004.
Line 4b: Enter the number of days in 2006 you claim you can exclude for purposes of the substantial presence test.
In general, this number is going to match the number you entered for Line 4a, for 2006.
PART II
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a STUDENT, leave this part blank and fill in Part III instead.
Line 5: Write here "University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403; (541) 346-1000."
Line 6: Write here the name, address and phone number of the head of your department.
Line 7: Enter the visa type(s) that you used in the U.S. for the years requested.
Line 8: If you can answer yes to this question and you wish for some reason to continue to be considered a non-resident alien for U.S. income tax purposes, please see the IA advisor dealing with taxes. (Scholars in the U.S. more than two years must in almost all cases be considered resident taxpayers. Scholars who are resident taxpayers usually pay less income tax but are subject to social security and Medicare taxes on most earned income.)
You do not have to complete Part III, Part IV or Part V. Simply sign/date and attach your Form 8843 to your Form 1040NR-EZ or 1040NR.
PART III
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are a VISITING PROFESSOR or SCHOLAR, leave this part blank and fill in Part II instead.
Line 9: Write here "University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403; (541) 346-1000."
Line 10: Write here the name, address and phone number of the head of your major department. If you are an undeclared major, write "International Affairs, 5209 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403."
Line 11: Indicate the visa type(s) that you used in the U.S. for the years requested.
Line 12: If you can answer yes to this question and you wish for some reason to continue to be considered a non-resident alien for U.S. income tax purposes, please see the IA advisor dealing with taxes. (Students in the U.S. more than five years must in almost all cases be considered resident taxpayers. Students who are resident taxpayers usually pay less income tax but are subject to social security and Medicare taxes on most earned income.)
Lines 13-14: Answer no, unless you or someone on your behalf filed a labor certification application, a petition for permanent residence, an immigrant visa application or an application for adjustment of status during 2006. (If you entered the U.S. permanent residence diversity visa (DV) lottery but did not win, you should also answer no.)
You do not have to complete Part II, Part IV or Part V. Simply sign/date and attach your Form 8843 to your Form 1040NR-EZ or 1040NR.
Where to File
File Form 1040NR-EZ with Form 8843 to:
Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, TX 73301-0215 USA.
The deadline to file is April 16, 2007.
