Office of International Affairs

If you earned wages (as reported on form W-2) during 2007 and are a national of a country which has a tax treaty with the U.S. that includes a personal services provision for students, you may be able to deduct that tax treaty amount on your tax form.  How do you find out whether your country HAS a tax treaty with the U.S. that allows such a deduction and additional details regarding the deduction?  Consult IRS Publication 901 (U.S. Tax Treaties).  Be sure that you are referencing the correct section of the publication; tax treaty provisions for students begin on Page 18.

The section titled "Professors, Teachers, and Researchers" (which starts on Page 15) only applies to those individuals who entered the U.S. in non-student categories, such as a J-1 Professor or Research Scholar.

The following countries permit their nationals who are students in the United States to protect a portion of their wages from income tax: Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, China, Commonwealth of Independent States*, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan (if you first entered the U.S. in the appropriate visa status prior to January 1, 2005), Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, and Venezuela.(*This treaty is in effect for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgystan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). However, the rules vary by country.

However, the rules vary by country. Another good source of information on tax treaties is the special IRS Tax Treaty website and the website of Windstar Technologies, which has posted the entire text of tax treaties for each country.  Point your browser to http://www.windstar-tech.com and select "tax treaties".

Click here for a tax treaty chart for students who earned salary and wages, as reported on form W-2.

Click here for a tax treaty chart for students who received a scholarship or fellowship grant.

Click here for a tax treaty chart for J-1 scholars and faculty who earned salary and wages as reported on form W-2.

(all charts from Binghamton University-SUNY)

If you have a qualifying scholarship or fellowship grant (not a teaching or research assistantship, and not a tuition scholarship) and are from one of the following countries, you may be able to protect all or part of your grant from tax: Bangladesh, Belgium, China, Commonwealth of Independent States*, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, France, Germany, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Japan (if you first entered the U.S. in the appropriate visa status prior to January 1, 2005), Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine and Venezuela. (*This treaty is in effect for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgystan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.)

If you are a student from India, click here for information on the U.S. tax treaty with India.

Information provided by International Student and Scholar Services 
Binghamton University (SUNY)

The UT Office of International Affairs is neither qualified nor permitted to give individual tax advice. Students with complicated tax situations may wish to consult with a tax preparation service, professional tax accountant, or tax attorney who is knowledgeable about nonresident tax law.

Home

Back to Tax Index Page

Disclaimer