Taxes

ISP staff is only trained to assist currently enrolled students who are Non-Resident Aliens for Tax Purposes, which include:

• F-1 students whose presence in the U.S. does not exceed 5 calendar years (this often applies to current students and alumni within the calendar year after graduation, unless they were in the U.S. before Macalester). For example, if Joe came to Macalester with an F-1 visa in 2019, they would become a resident alien for tax purposes starting January 1, 2024. They would file their taxes for 2023 as resident aliens (in 2024 and beyond).
• J-1 students/scholars whose presence in the U.S. does not exceed 2 calendar years.

If your presence in the U.S. exceeds the time frames mentioned above and you are a Resident Alien (RA) for Tax Purposes, see the section for Resident Alien (RA) for Tax Purposes below. GLACIER’s Tax Summary Report will tell you what your tax residency status is. If you are still unsure, check with ISP.

What is Glacier Tax Prep (GTP)?

• GTP is an online tax preparation site (accessed through GLACIER) to prepare your federal taxes.
  • GTP does not file your taxes for you–software only prepares the documents to be sent by mail.
  • If you have to file state tax, ISP will help prepare your Mn state tax after reviewing your federal tax return.
• You should have registered for GLACIER during PO4IS and created your username/login. If you don’t remember it, click “forgot login.”
• Use a password that is easy to remember or keep a note of it somewhere.

What forms do I need to complete Glacier Tax Prep?

• • W-2 (income statement):
    • If you had any paid employment during 2022, you will most likely have received a W-2 from your employer(s). If you haven’t received W-2 or other income statement, e.g. 1099, please request immediately from your employer.
    • If you worked at Macalester and chose to receive your W-2 electronically, log into 1600Grand>Money Matters>Employee Dashboard>Taxes>W-2>Printable W-2; print 1 copy. Make sure you print landscape or part of the form might get cut off; otherwise bring the one that you got in your SPO. Check with ISP if we have your Mac W-2.
  • 1042-S (income statement): This form will be available on the first page of Glacier Tax Prep under a red link named “Print/View my 1042-S.” If this link is gray or you do not see this link, you do not have a 1042-S. If you worked at Macalester and have confirmed that your country has a tax treaty with the U.S., you may receive a 1042-S instead of a W-2. If you have taxable financial aid above tuition and fees such as room and board, you may get a 1042-S.

• Previous year(s) tax return(s): if you filed federal or state taxes in the previous year(s), have that information with you.
• Taxable Grant Memo and/or scholarship tax information: Depending on your financial aid, this will be part of the documents that GTP will create for your FEDERAL tax return (not Tax Summary Report in GLACIER).
  
• Travel Documents: passport, I-20, travel history from the I-94 site.
• Social Security Number (if you have one, i.e., if you’ve ever worked for money in the U.S.)
• Any other income statements you may have received (e.g., 1099). You should have one per employer (e.g., one for Macalester and one for your internship if applicable).
• Bank account information (account and routing number), in case you will receive a refund.

How do I complete Glacier Tax Prep (GTP)?

1. Log into GLACIER here.

2. Click the green link “Complete my US Tax return using GLACIER Tax Prep (or GTP).” – If you choose any other link like View/Update that is wrong link – it will not complete your federal tax return.

3. Click through and complete all personal information.

4. For country of tax residence, most students will put the country of your passport. If in doubt, talk to ISP.

5. On the page “Information about your visits to the US,” refer to your passport stamps or I-20 to get arrival dates. Enter the dates as accurately as you can. You can also look up your U.S. travel history from the I-94 site, although it may not be complete. After you submit it, GTP will tell you your residency status on a page that says “You are a Non-Resident/Resident for Tax Purposes.” You are not able to put 2023 dates because this is only relevant up to the 2022 tax year.

6. On the page “Income Statements” copy all your tax forms into the appropriate yellow fields, exactly as how they appear on paper. Most students have a W-2 and/or a 1042-S, but you may also have only one or the other, or none. If you had paid internships in Minnesota or out of state, you will have one W-2 (or other income statement) per workplace. If your employer considered you an independent contractor, then you may receive a 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC. You should have one income statement from each employer. You may have also received another type of 1099.

If you don’t know where to find these forms, see “What forms do I need to complete Glacier Tax Prep?” above.

7. On the next page, when asked about your tax treaty, click “I want to claim the maximum amount of exemption.” You may also want to check the summary of your tax treaty to make sure it is the best option for you. If your country doesn’t have a tax treaty, this page may not appear.

8. On the page “Institution that Sponsored your Immigration Status,” put Aaron Colhapp as the designated school official. Aaron’s telephone number is 651-696-6078.

9. On the page “Additional Information” (you can check your previous federal tax documents on GLACIER):

• Did you ever make estimated tax payments? No. 
• Have you ever filed a previous tax return? If you didn’t file US taxes last year, NO. If you did, YES. Most students completed the 1040NR-EZ prior to 2022 tax year.
• On your Form 1040NR (or 1040NR-EZ prior to 2022), were you eligible for a tax refund that you instructed the IRS to keep and apply to any refund that you may have in 2021? No.
• Did you claim the tax treaty benefit?If you haven’t filed taxes before, no. If you did, hopefully you put yes last time, so yes. 
• Do you have any dependents? No, unless you have children or a spouse. 
• Did you pay any interest? This may apply to those of you who graduated and started paying interest on your student loans. Check Form 1098-E that you should have already received.

10. If you are due a refund, GTP will ask you how you would like to receive your tax refund. We recommend direct deposit as the faster and easier route. Make sure you know your bank account and routing numbers. Getting your refund may take up to between a month and a year.

11. Click the green button that says “print forms.” Do not print the instruction page, start by printing from page 2.Print one double sided copy. If you have a 1042-S, print ONE COPY SINGLE-SIDED from GLACIER. Note: These are NOT the “Tax Summary” forms.

Congratulations! You have finished your federal forms through Glacier Tax Prep – do not mail or pay any money until ISP reviews your federal return and if needed, ISP will help prepare MN state return.

For the 2022 tax year, appointments will be hosted in ISP to review and file your federal taxes (which were prepared on GTP) as well as file state taxes (MN for all, other states for some). If you complete the following survey confirming that you prepared the necessary documents, you will be directed to a link to the tax appointment calendar. Tax Help ends on April 8, 2023.

1. Share the following with ISP at your appointment:

• One copy of your Glacier Tax Prep forms (do not print out the first page instruction sheet)
• Any applicable tax income forms (W-2, 1042-S, 1099, etc)–see where to find these above
• I-20
• Passport
• Social security number
• Financial aid letters (memos) you might have received from federal forms produced by GTP
• Bank account if you have one in case you need to pay additional taxes and bank account information (account and routing number) in case you will receive a refund.
• Show up to your appointment on time! Most appointments take one (1) hour or more, so plan accordingly.

MAKE SURE YOU DO Federal Return via GTP BEFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT.

If you have worked in a state other than Minnesota, we will still help you to review and complete your federal taxes. However, we will not be able to help you complete your out of state taxes this year. We will direct you to a service that can complete your state taxes for you. Please still make an appointment with us to get more information and have your federal taxes reviewed.

Non-residents for tax purposes, or F-1 students who have been in the US for less than 5 calendar years are not subject to Social Security and Medicare tax withholding. If your employer accidentally withheld Social Security and Medicare from your pay, you are entitled to a refund claim. Always check your W-2 for that! Sometimes even Macalester does it by mistake.

You should FIRST contact your employer for reimbursement.  Read the “Withholding Social Security and Medicare Taxes” sheet and feel free to share it with your employer. If you are unable to get a refund from the employer, then file a claim for a refund through the IRS with the following completed forms and supporting documents:

1. Complete Form 843 and Form 8316 after filing your 1040NR (as of 2021 tax year there is no 1040NR-EZ form). 

Important:In form 843, line 6 (labeled “Original Return”) is a common place for error. Note that the appropriate box to be checked in that item is 941 and NOT 1040. Similarly, the “Type of tax” in line 3 should be “Employment” and not “Income.”

2. Attach photocopies of:

• W-2
• Form 1040NR for the tax year in question
• Form I-94 front and back
• Form I-20 pages 1-2 (1-3 for the old I-20), with page 2 (3 for the old I-20) showing the name and address of the employer that withheld social security and Medicare from you
• Valid visa
• If relevant, the Employment Authorization Document of your OPT or Severe Economic Hardship work permit

3. Mail to Internal Revenue Service Center, Austin, TX 73301

4. Hold onto copies of any relevant documents

Note: It may take up to a year for you to receive your refund and as a result it is very important that you keep copies of all important documents as well as list an address that will be valid for that period of time. Also, keep in mind that there is no easy way to follow up with the IRS on the status of this refund request.

If you paid rent in MN during 2022, depending on your income and many other variables, you may be eligible for a Renter’s Property Tax Refund. This is very rare for Macalester students since they don’t usually meet the income requirements (scholarship, loans or money from families may be considered income). See more information on the Renter’s Property Tax Refund page of the Minnesota Revenue website.

If after completing the Tax Season Help Survey (Section 3) you need to continue your federal and state tax returns in TaxSlayer (because you got more than Form 8843 as part of your federal return in GTP), refer to ISP emails sent with the special TaxSlayer software link. Must complete TaxSlayer before coming to ISP to review your return before you file.

There are three scenarios that Macalester International Students fall into:

Tax Treaty – Use this resource to find out whether your country has a tax treaty with the United States. You should not need to create an account from the website, but if asked please do so. You can also review GTP-produced Form 1040-NR → Schedule OI → Line L for additional help.

Scenario 1: Non-Resident Aliens from India (PDF)

Scenario 2: Non-Resident Aliens with a Tax Treaty (PDF)

Scenario 3: Non-Resident Aliens without a Tax Treaty (PDF)

E-Filing Instructions (PDF)

You might also have these special scenarios:

If you had any investment income (e.g., 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-B) (PDF)

If your treaty benefits do not match your 1042-S wage income (PDF)(e.g. you have a tax treaty but didn’t claim it so received W-2 instead or got both a W-2 AND 1042-S for work income) 

If you worked in MN and another state(s) (PDF)