Filing Taxes – Duke Singapore Students Association

Every year, all international students, scholars and their family members who stayed on a F or J visa must file taxes by mid-April, whether or not you earned any income in the US.

To ease your burden, IHouse offers coupon codes for Sprintax, an online tool which assists in filing taxes for individuals who are classified as non-resident aliens for tax purposes. You will need to stop by IHouse in-person with your Duke ID to obtain a code. The codes are given out on a first-come-first-served basis. Please note that you cannot use TurboTax and TaxAct, which are only for U.S. citizens and other foreign nationals who are considered residents for tax purposes.

Here is a guide on how to file taxes, which is mostly based on IHouse’s annual email reminder (Note: this is based on the 2016-2017 academic year, but the documents/guidelines should still be relevant):

1. If you earned NO income

You only need to file Form 8843. Please see IHouse’s guideline to complete Form 8843.

2. If you earned income

In addition to Form 8843, you will also have to file Form 1040NR-EZ and Form D400. Form 1040NR-EZ and Form 8843 are Fed forms. Form D400 is a NC State form, used to claim state taxes from NC.

Refer to #1 on how to complete Form 8843. Please see this guideline to complete Form 1040NR-EZ and this guideline to complete Form D400.

If you earned U.S. income, you will be provided with a W2 form from your employer. If you obtained a scholarship/grant money, you will be provided with a 1042-S form. You will need these forms when you fill in the tax forms.

3. Mailing the Forms

Fed forms (Form 1040NR-EZ and Form 8843) go to:

Department of Treasury,

International Revenue Service Center
Austin, TX 73301-0215

State forms (Form D400) go to (if you are due a refund):

NC Department of Revenue,
PO Box R,
Raleigh NC 27634-0001

For more information from IHouse: