Important note: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will never contact you by email, text or social media. If the IRS needs information, they will contact you by mail. Avoid scammers pretending to be the IRS by following these steps.
As a Foreign National student or scholar, you may need to file tax forms each year with the IRS, even if you earned no income. It is your individual responsibility to understand and meet your tax obligations.
U.S. tax laws can be complex and the laws that apply to foreign nationals are not the same as those that apply to U.S. citizens. This page is meant to serve as a general introduction. ISSS staff are not able to give tax advice about individual cases as we are not tax professionals. These resources and best practices should help you to better understand your tax obligation, to learn what and where to research, and to successfully submit your tax forms.
IRS IMPERSONATION SCAM:
This scam is targeting individuals associated with educational institutions, specifically students and staff who have an “.edu” email address. The phishing emails seemingly come from “irs.gov”, dissplay an impressive, yet fake IRS logo and use various subject lines, such as “Tax Refund Payment” or “Recalculation of your tax refund payment.” The email directs the individual to click on a link and submit personal information to claim their tax refund. “IRS-impersonation” scam that is targeting individuals associated with educational institutions, specifically students and staff who have an “.edu” email address. The phishing emails seemingly come from “irs.gov”, display an impressive, yet fake IRS logo and use various subject lines, such as “Tax Refund Payment” or “Recalculation of your tax refund payment.” The email directs the individual to click on a link and submit personal information to claim their tax refund.
INDIVIDUALS WHO RECEIVE THIS SCAM EMAIL SHOULD NOT CLICK ON ANY LINK IN THE EMAIL.
As a reminder, the IRS will NOT initiate email contact with a taxpayer without consent. The 2020 tax return is the first year that the IRS has included the option for the taxpayer to insert an email address. IF the taxpayer inserts an email address, the IRS may choose to send an email; however, any email from the IRS will NOT include links to claim a refund or ask for any secure information such as social security number, date of birth or bank account information.
The IRS asks that individuals who receive such an email to please send it to them. For security reasons, they should not forward the email, rather they should save the email using “save as” and then send that as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov or forward the email as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov .
GLACIER Tax Prep© is a web-based tax return preparation system designed exclusively for foreign students, scholars, and others. Access information will be sent to students and scholars by mid-February. If you do not receive this e-mail, please contact ISSS. Please also make sure that you check your spam filters to add our email address (students) isss@illinois.edu/(scholars) isss-scholars@illinois.edu, to ensure that you receive all emails regarding GLACIER Tax Prep. Access to GLACIER Tax Prep will expire in June.
Fulbright sponsored J-1s should not use the GLACIER Tax Prep. All other non-University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign sponsored J-1 should check with their program sponsors to determine if they will provide them with assistance first.
Yes, all international students and scholars as well as their dependents are required to file at least one tax form for every year they are present in the U.S. regardless of whether or not they earned any money. This does not necessarily mean you have to pay taxes.