Reminder: The tax filing deadline for the 2019 tax season has been extended to July 15 (federal). For state deadlines, please check your state’s rules.
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Introduction
After determining your tax residency status, another very important question is: when should I file my tax return? And when do I have to pay my taxes? In this article, we will go over some important tax filing deadlines and related issues in detail.
When Tax Forms Arrive
Before you can file your tax return, you need to gather all the required documents. Generally speaking, if the person or institution paying you income is legally required to report that income to the IRS, then you should also receive a corresponding tax form. We recommend waiting until all necessary forms have arrived before you start filing, because otherwise any miscalculation could make your work pointless. Below, we list common tax forms and explain who needs each one. You can use this as a checklist to make sure your tax documents are complete. Note: these forms must be issued to you by other institutions. The form links provided below are for display purposes only. Unless there are special circumstances, you should not fill out the forms listed below on your own.
If any deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, it is pushed to the next business day.
W-2: Wage Income
The W-2 is the most common form for wage income. Whether you work for a company or receive income while pursuing a PhD (such as TA, RA, or some Fellowship income), you may receive this form. Employers and schools must send out the previous year’s W-2 by January 31 each year, or the employer may be subject to a penalty (26 U.S.C. §6722). In general, you can also download your W-2 from your employer’s or school’s HR system website.
1042-S: Wage and Miscellaneous Income
This form is only issued to Foreign Persons, which means it is generally only sent to NRAs. It can cover many types of income, but the 1042-S most people receive is usually for wages paid by a school (or another employer, though that is less common), so we will focus on that here. One important thing to note is that the IRS deadline for mailing out Form 1042-S is as late as March 15, which is quite late. If you had income from your school, but it is not fully reflected in the wages box on the W-2 issued by the school, or if the school did not provide a W-2 at all, then there is a good chance the school will issue a 1042-S instead. In that case, you must wait patiently for the school to issue the 1042-S before filing your tax return. If March 15 is approaching and there is still no sign of the form, you should contact the responsible HR department at your school. The school website may also offer it for download.
1099-INT: Taxable Interest Income
If you are an NRA, you do not have to pay tax on interest income, so you normally would not receive a 1099-INT. However, a bank may mistakenly treat you as a U.S. resident for tax purposes. For example, when opening the bank account, you may have incorrectly filled out a W-9 instead of the W-8BEN that an NRA should use. In that case, the bank may issue you a 1099-INT. Although you do not owe tax, these forms are still useful because tax may have been withheld from your interest and you may need to claim it back from the IRS. Also, reporting this non-taxable interest income can help keep your tax return consistent with the IRS’s 1099-INT records. Therefore, we recommend obtaining 1099-INT forms from all banks where you previously submitted a W-9.
If you are an RA, your interest income is taxable, so you should wait for 1099-INT forms from all your banks.
However, if your interest income for the year was less than $10, you may not receive this form. It is mailed by January 31. In general, you can also download your 1099-INT from your bank’s website.
In addition, some banks treat account opening bonuses as interest income, such as Discover and Chase checking and savings accounts.
1099-G: Government Income
At first glance, this form may seem unrelated to you. When would the government ever be nice enough to give you money back? But that is not really what this is about. The most common use of this form is for a state tax refund from the previous tax year. The reason is that the portion of your income used to pay state and local taxes is not subject to federal income tax. So if, on last year’s federal return, you deducted your withheld state and local taxes from your income as an Itemized Deduction, but then later received a refund from the state or local government, that refunded amount is effectively income that was not taxed last year. Therefore, if you itemized your state taxes last year, that refunded amount will be included in this year’s income through Form 1099-G. This form is also mailed by January 31. Some state tax departments provide 1099-G forms for download online.
If you are sure that for the previous tax year you claimed the Standard Deduction on your federal tax return (which does not apply to NRAs), then you can ignore a 1099-G for a state tax refund.
1099-MISC: Miscellaneous Income
There are many myths surrounding this form, such as “F1 students cannot receive a 1099-MISC, otherwise they are violating their student status.” In reality, that is because the income category covered by this form—“miscellaneous income”—is extremely broad. It can include self-employment income as an Independent Contractor, lottery winnings, rental income, and bank bonuses. Note that rewards from credit cards are not reported and will not generate a 1099-MISC.
If you received bank bonuses above a certain amount, such as the Citigold account opening ThankYou Points bonus, you may receive a 1099-MISC. It is also mailed by January 31.
1099-DIV: Dividend Income
There is not much to say here. If you own stocks and received dividends, then you should receive a 1099-DIV from your Brokerage. It is also mailed by January 31.
1098-T: Tuition
This form does not report your income; instead, it reports tuition expenses paid to your school. It is useless for NRAs. It is only useful for RAs. Therefore, we recommend that RAs keep the 1098-T issued by their school. It can usually also be downloaded from the school website. Schools likewise issue it by January 31.
Other Tax Forms
If you paid other property taxes, such as taxes on a home or car, you may also want to keep the payment receipts or tax notices, because some of those amounts may be deductible from your taxable income.
When Tax Filing Begins
Technically, you can start filing last year’s tax return with the IRS as early as January 1 each year. However, because the IRS needs time to train staff, release tax forms, and publish instructions, it does not actually begin accepting returns until late January, whether you file electronically (e-file) or by paper. This year, the IRS will begin accepting 2016 tax-year returns on January 23, 2017. That said, as mentioned earlier, many forms may not arrive until February or even March, so in general, once you have all of your tax forms, you do not need to worry about filing too early. The same is generally true for state taxes.
Tax Filing Deadline
The tax filing deadline is very important. April 15 each year is the deadline to file your income tax return for the previous tax year. Because April 15, 2017 falls on a weekend, and the 17th is a holiday, the deadline was pushed back to April 18. If you file by paper, you must make sure your return is mailed before the post office closes that day. If you use a private courier, only an approved delivery service such as UPS or FedEx can use the mailing date as the filing date. Since the IRS treats the filing date the same whether it receives your return earlier or later, we recommend using USPS to avoid unnecessary courier fees.
If you file electronically (e-file), the deadline is 23:59:59 in your local time zone. If you tend to procrastinate, remember that cutoff.
State tax deadlines are usually the same, but it is still a good idea to verify for yourself.
Automatic Extension of the Filing Deadline
If, for procrastination or any other reason, you need to file after the April 15 deadline, that is allowed. You can submit Form 4868 (which can be filed electronically) to request a 6-month extension.
Even if your filing deadline is extended, if you owe the IRS, you still must pay all taxes due on or before April 15 (and you can pay online). If you do not know the exact amount, you will need to estimate it. The general rule is that it is better to overpay than underpay. Underpaying can result in penalties and interest.
The Last Date to File
Although the sections above discuss the filing deadline, that does not mean you cannot file after it passes. You can still file for a refund within 3 years after the deadline. In other words, April 18, 2017 is the last chance to claim a refund for tax year 2013.
What Happens If I Forget to File?
If you do not file and the IRS believes you were required to file, it may prepare a Substitute for Return (SFR) based on the information it already has and send you either a bill (if you still owe taxes) or a refund. Of course, the numbers it calculates will almost certainly not be in your favor. After you receive an SFR, you still have one last chance to file your own return and fix the issue.
If you do not file, and the IRS does not prepare an SFR for you, but you do not owe any tax, then you must still file within the 3-year period described above. Otherwise, your refund will be forfeited to the government. However, there is no penalty in that case.
If you file late and owe taxes, you will be required to pay penalties and interest when you file.
Special Rule for Form 8843
If you are an F/J/M/Q student and do not need to file a tax return, and only need to file Form 8843, then you only need to submit Form 8843 by June 15 each year. If you do need to file a tax return, then Form 8843 should be mailed together with your return by April 15.
Conclusion
That is all for this time. Next time, we will look at how to choose the right tax forms.
Do you have any questions? Ask them in the comments below.