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Tax Services for International Students

Many international students and trainees are unfamiliar with U.S. tax law and may inadvertently file an incorrect tax return or fail to file any tax return. This can cause serious problems and may endanger their visa status. Some grantees seek the help of professional tax return preparers, but these services can be quite expensive because very few commercial preparers have expertise in the complex field of nonresident alien scholarship taxation.

For Current IIE Grantees: Information on Filing Your Taxes

IIE’s Grantax Unit has over 20 years of nonresident individual taxation experience and performs a number of functions to provide comprehensive tax services to international students in the United States. IIE provides such services on behalf of many government agencies, foundations, corporations, and other organizations that administer international scholarship and exchange programs. These services help ensure that students remain in compliance with U.S. tax law, which can affect their ability to return to the U.S. later in their careers and alleviate the burden on sponsors so that they can focus attention on their program.

The following provides an overview of Grantax services for students and sponsors. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions about these services.


Students

For students in the U.S., IIE’s Grantax Unit prepares statements of income and prepares and files IRS Form 1042S. IIE's Grantax team can also prepare and file federal and state income tax returns and administers tax payments and refunds, while acting as a resource for tax questions from students, and also ensures that any tax refunds will be returned to IIE for use in the program, as directed by the sponsor, rather than sent by the IRS directly to the student.

It is mandatory for some of IIE’s sponsored grantees to file their tax returns through Grantax, but not every IIE grantee is offered the Grantax service. If you are a current IIE grantee, please contact Grantax or your IIE representative to ask if you qualify for the Grantax service.


Sponsors

When IIE’s Grantax department provides federal and state tax preparation services to various programs and sponsors; specifically, IIE will be authorized to:

  • Receive and inspect the students’ tax information;
  • Prepare and sign the students’ individual tax returns;
  • Develop an equalization schedule to determine the sponsor and students’ tax refund or liability; and
  • Receive and negotiate all corresponding tax refund checks on behalf of the students.

Completed tax returns will be mailed to the IRS and a copy sent to students. IIE will collect and endorse and negotiate the federal refund checks on behalf of the students. If you are a sponsor and you have questions about our tax services, please send an e-mail to grantax@iie.org.

Contact

Always include your IIE/Laspau grantee number in all e-mails to GRANTAX

Wendy Lau
Tax Manager
Institute of International Education
809 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Fax: +1 212.984.5553
E-mail: grantax@iie.org

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