As a Foreign Student, Do You Need an ITIN?
2022-06-27 12:47:55
As a
Foreign Student, Do You Need an ITIN?
For some time now, the number of
international students in the United States has been growing at a fairly steady
pace. Over the last couple of school years, foreign students in American
universities have exceeded 850,000 scattered throughout the various graduate
and undergraduate programs in the nation. Thats a whopping four percent of all
U.S. college students, and represents almost ninety percent of all
international students attending universities outside of their home countries.
Its also a seventy-two percent increase in the last fifteen years.
If youre a foreign student attending
university in the United States, there are many opportunities available to you.
There are also some important obligations that may apply, depending upon your
individual circumstances. One of those obligations might involve the need to obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification
Number. Yes, even if you are merely attending school in the United States,
and are not working at all, you may still need an ITIN if you meet certain
criteria.
That might not make sense given that most
people consider the ITIN nothing more than an identifier provided so that those
who are not eligible for Social Security numbers can still work and pay taxes.
However, if youre a foreign student in the United States and receiving grants,
fellowship, or scholarship money, there is always the chance that some portion
of that may qualify as taxable income. You may also need to obtain an ITIN if you have dependents
that have come to the U.S. on J-2 or F-2 visas.
The reason why these scholarships, grants,
and fellowships may trigger income tax questions has to do with their source.
If they are coming from American sources, then they qualify as U.S. income
even though youre not technically employed. This is true for both foreign
students and foreign professors. You may not actually have taxable income when
all is said and done, but you will want to file a tax return to ensure that you
are in full compliance with your legal responsibilities.
As a general rule, you can obtain your ITIN
either before you come to the United States, or wait until you are here. If
youre receiving this sort of income from an American source, youll want to
make sure that you at least have a proper ITIN before the tax filing deadline.
Any foreign dependents will also have to have their own numbers.
Obviously, your schedule will be quite busy
while youre attending classes, and this may seem like a tremendous burden.
Fortunately, the IRS doesnt expect you to handle everything on your own, and
has resources available in most communities to assist you with the filing
process. There are also many immigration attorneys that can help you should you
run into any sort of complication.
As one of the hundreds of thousands of
foreign nationals taking advantage of the great educational opportunities
available in the United States, you enjoy many benefits that most people in the
world will never experience. With those benefits comes added responsibility,
including various tax filing requirements. By obtaining your ITIN, you can ensure that
youre able to meet those obligations in a responsible manner.
Irving Weissholtz