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Residents for Tax Purposes
If you are a resident for tax purposes, generally speaking, you will be subject to tax in the same way as a U.S. citizen. It is important to note U.S. citizens are taxed on their worldwide income. Thus, if you are a resident alien for tax purposes, you must report all interest, dividends, wages, or other compensation for services, income from rental property or royalties, and other types of income (whether originating within the U.S. or elsewhere) on your U.S. tax return.
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What you Need to File:
What You Need to File and When
If you are a resident for tax purposes, you may need to file a federal and/or state tax return:
Federal Tax Return
Federal taxes are those paid to the U.S. central government Internal Revenue Service (IRS). To clarify whether or not you had enough income to file taxes, please see the "Do You Need to File a Federal Income Tax Return" tool on the IRS website.
State Tax Return
In addition to a federal tax return, you may also have to file a State of Illinois income tax return. If you resided and/or worked in more than one U.S. state during the past calendar year, you may have to file tax returns in all the states in which you resided or worked. You should check the state revenue website of the other state(s) where you lived and worked to figure out your tax filing obligations.
If you do not want to pay to use a tax filing software or professional preparer for your state return, you can file Form IL 1040 on your own if you resided in Illinois in the previous calendar year. The IL-1040 is for Illinois only. If you resided in a different state for all or part of last calendar year, you will need to file paperwork for that state.
Filing as a Resident for Tax Purposes
As a resident for tax purposes, you can use the same tools and forms that a U.S. citizen or permanent resident could use. This means, you could use resident tax preparation software (e.g. Turbo Tax, H&R Block, etc), file by hand yourself, or go to a tax preparation service. Unless you are very familiar with filing U.S. tax returns, we recommend you use a software or go to a professional.
On their website, the IRS lists several companies that provide a free tax filing if you meet certain criteria. Often these companies provide the federal return for free and prepare any necessary state returns for a fee.
As a resident for tax purposes, you will not be able to use software that has been made specifically for non-residents, such as Glacier or Sprintax. This is true even if you have used these programs as a non-resident in the past.
Filing Assistance
Staff at OIA are not tax experts and therefore cannot, by law, answer specific tax questions or help you prepare your tax forms. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to meet your tax obligations and do so accurately.
Helpful Publications and Websites
FAQs - Residents for Tax Purposes
Domestic and residents for tax purposes will not receive a tax form. Scholarship stipends are considered by the IRS to be self-reported income, so there is no tax form that you would receive, even though you are required to report and remit taxes on this income.
No. Each tax form has specific requirements for the information it reports. The IRS does not require that the University provide any tax documents for scholarship/fellowship income to U.S. Citizens, Permanent Residents and Residents for Tax Purposes.
There is no one place at the University of Chicago that would house all of this information. Your Dean of Students should be able to provide information regarding your financial aid package, but you are ultimately responsible for your income reporting.
To qualify for EITC you must have earned income from employment, self-employment or another source and meet certain rules. Also, you must either meet the additional rules for workers without a qualifying child or have a child that meets all the qualifying child rules for you. Visit the IRS website for further details: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96406,00.html
Please review IRS publication 970 for information on acceptable educational deductions.
Yes. If you filed a previous tax return for a calendar year, you should file an amended tax return (IRS form 1040X and Illinois state form IL-1040X). If you have never filed (i.e. only had scholarship/fellowship income and did not file any tax return for a calendar year), you need to file an original tax return.
The IRS and Illinois State have requirements for filing estimated tax payments. Typically, if you will owe more than $1000 for federal taxes and $500 for Illinois State, you should be paying estimated quarterly payments. If you do not pay estimated tax payments when required to do so, the IRS and Illinois state may assess a penalty for late taxes.
The IRS details how to file scholarship/fellowship income here.
No. You will only be contacted via US mail (not by email) if something is missing or incorrect. The IRS will not contact you by telephone!
The sooner the tax return is filed, the quicker the return. The IRS does not publish other processing timelines.
If you are a resident for tax purposes, you and a spouse/partner can file a joint tax return. You may have the option to file ‘Married Filing Jointly’ or ‘Married filing separately’. There is no “better” way to file – it is what is best for your tax situation and this can vary between individuals, couples and families.
To claim a spouse/partner or dependent who does not have an SSN or ITIN:
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Complete W7 and attach appropriate documents per instructions for each individual who needs an ITIN.
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Complete federal tax return.
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Mail completed W7 applications and completed 1040 to the W7 address. ITIN applications will be processed first, then the federal tax return will be forwarded for processing.