Step 2: Prepare Your Return
Here’s where you turn all of that preparation into action!
NOTE: The link to the TaxSlayer software is down at step 3.
Make sure you use this link!
If you go straight to the TaxSlayer website you will be asked to pay for your return. You’ll have to come back here and start all over again to get your return prepared for free.
Determine Your Treaty Benefits
Determine which scenarios apply to you
Prepare your return using a basic scenario
Update Your Return with any special circumstances scenarios
Determine your treaty benefits
The U.S. has tax treaties with many countries, and those treaties often contain benefits for individuals on F, J, M, or Q visas. You are not required to claim a treaty benefit, but it can save you quite a bit in tax if you are eligible to do so.
First you need to determine your country of tax residency. This is the country you lived in prior to coming to the U.S. on your current visa. It is usually the country of your citizenship, but that is not a requirement. A temporary visit (such as for a vacation) to a country does not establish tax residency. Nonresident aliens by definition are NOT tax residents of the U.S.
Once you know your country of tax residency, the easiest way to find out if you have any treaty benefits you can claim is to use our new My Treaty Benefits tool!
You will need the income documents you gathered during the Get Organized step.
You can evaluate your treaty benefits for wages, scholarships or fellowship grants, dividends, and gains from sales of U.S. stocks.
You can enter your income documents to determine if your treaty benefits match your income documents for wages and/or scholarship and fellowship grants.
The tool will provide guidance about which scenario(s) you should use, and if you need a special circumstances guide based on the income documents you’ve entered.
Don’t forget to print and save a copy of your results! You’ll need this for the next step.
Determine which scenarios apply to you
Everyone will use a basic scenario to prepare their initial return. Then, if any of the special circumstance scenarios apply to you, you’ll use each of those to update your return.
We have 3 basic scenarios. If you’ve used our tool to determine your treaty benefits, we tell you which basic scenario to use at the bottom of the results page.
Basic Scenario 1: Students from India - This is for F-1 and J-1 Students ONLY! J-1 Teachers, Researchers, Scholars, etc. do NOT use this scenario
Basic Scenario 2: Individuals with Treaty Benefits for Wages and/or Scholarships and Fellowships
Basic Scenario 3: Individuals with no Treaty Benefits for Wages and/or Scholarships and Fellowships
We also have a series of special circumstances scenarios. They won’t apply for most people, but one or more might apply to you. Check your my treaty benefits results to see if you should use one of these guides based on the information you entered, and review the list below to see if any other situations apply to you.
MN Property Tax Refund
If you rented an apartment and received a Certificate of Rent Paid (CRP), you might be eligible for a property tax refund. Use this scenario to find out and prepare that return if you are.
Working in MN and another state(s)
If you worked in BOTH Minnesota and another U.S. state during 2021, this scenario will help you properly prepare your MN return.
If you worked in California or Pennsylvania we’ll also help you prepare that return.
Some states don’t have an income tax, and we’ll let you know which ones those are.
If you need a return for any other state, we can’t help, but we’ll try to point you in the right direction.
Investment Transactions - Interest, Dividends, Capital Gains
If you received a 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, or 1099-B this is the guide that will walk you through properly reporting this income
Wage Income with No 1042-S, or Your Treaty Benefits DO NOT MATCH
If you have a treaty benefit for wages, but either didn’t get a 1042-S form, or your treaty benefits do not match your 1042-S form, this guide will help you claim your full treaty benefit.
UofM students - don’t assume about a 1042-S - email ohr@umn.edu to be certain if you will or will not receive one of these documents.
Fellowship or Scholarship Income Not Reported on a 1042-S
If you received a scholarship or fellowship grant that wasn’t reported on a 1042-S form, this guide will help you properly enter your income. Your only documentation may be fellowship award letter, One-Stop student account statement, One-Stop My Pay record, or some other notice.
UofM students - don’t assume about a 1042-S - email ohr@umn.edu to be certain if you will or will not receive one of these documents.
Charitable Contributions
If you made a contribution to a U.S. charitable organization, this guide will help you determine if you can deduct that on your tax return, and then walk you through the steps to do so.
Student Loan Interest
If you are paying interest on a qualifying student loan, you may be able to deduct that interest on your taxes. You should get a 1098-E document to report the interest, and this guide will help you include it on your tax return.
Dependents
In very limited situations, individuals who are tax residents of Canada, Mexico, India, and S. Korea may be able to take a deduction for a dependent (a child or possibly a parent, never a spouse). This guide walks you through the fine details of who qualifies, and helps you claim the dependent if you meet the requirements.
IRA / 401(k) Distributions
Did you receive a 1099-R? This is very unusual, but can happen if you start working for a company and get signed up for their retirement plan, then leave the company and have that money returned to you. This guide walks you through how to enter that income in TaxSlayer.
Prepare your return using a basic scenario
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This guide is for F-1 and J-1 Students ONLY! J-1 Teachers, Researchers, Scholars, etc. should NOT use this scenario
Video Tutorial Link (coming soon)
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Scenario 2 PDF Guide
Video Tutorial Link (coming soon) -
Video Tutorial Link (coming soon)
Update your return using any special circumstances scenarios that apply
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Please note that approx. 75% of NRVTAP members will turn out to not be eligible for a property tax refund. The MN Dept. of Revenue is diligent about auditing these returns, so please carefully review the below information before filing a return to claim a refund. We strongly encourage you to make an appointment and review your information with one of our trained volunteers if you believe you qualify.
To be eligible for a MN Property Tax Refund:
1 - You must have been physically present in MN for at least 183 days during 2021. For a single visit, that means you must have arrived on or before July 2nd.
2 - You must have rented/owned/occupied/maintained an abode that was subject to property taxes for some part of 2021. An abode is a legal way of saying a place that has sleeping, cooking, bathing facilities, so dorms do not usually qualify. Some school owned or co-op housing units don’t pay property taxes. If you don’t pay the taxes, you can’t get a refund on them. Generally if you lived in a qualifying situation you should receive a certificate of rent paid (CRP) by Jan. 31. If you did not, ask your landlord for this form, or why it was not provided.
3 - You must not be a dependent - you must have provided over 1/2 of your own support. Most international students are dependents. If you aren’t sure if you would qualify or not, we’ve created the following worksheet that you can use to evaluate if you are a dependent. See IRS Publication 17 for the full definition if you are uncertain.
If you are eligible for the property tax refund, you must determine your household income. This includes nontaxable income such as: treaty exempt income, scholarships and fellowships, tuition waivers and reductions, fee waivers, and COVID emergency grants. The worksheet also walks you through determining these amounts.
Once you know you are eligible for a refund, and have determined your nontaxable income, you can use the guide to prepare your MN property tax refund return.
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This guide is for you if you worked in Minnesota AND another U.S. state. If you only worked in Minnesota you do not need to use this scenario (and doing so will incorrectly prepare your return).
First you will need to determine your Minnesota residency, which is different than your federal tax residency. This will depend on how long you were in Minnesota, what your living situation was while you were here, and what happened to the place you were staying when you left. We’ve put together a worksheet that will walk you through determining your MN residency.
Once you determine your MN residency, you can use the guide to update your return.
Working In MN and Another State Guide
Some states don’t have an income tax. If you were lucky enough to work in one of these states, then you don’t need to do anything beyond make the proper adjustments to your Minnesota return. Those states are: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming
If you worked in California, you can use this guide to prepare the California portion of your return:
If you worked in Pennsylvania, you can use this guide to prepare your Pennsylvania state and local returns:
Unfortunately, if you worked in any other state that has an income tax we are not trained on those other state income tax returns, so we cannot help you complete that portion of your tax return. TaxSlayer will help prepare most other state tax return forms, but you will need to find instructions to be certain you are preparing the forms correctly. Usually a search of the state name + “department of revenue” can lead you to the forms and instructions.
If you would consider helping us out, please email the state you worked in to taxassistance@nrvtap.com. We keep track of where our members work, and will add guides for other states as we see the demand.
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This guide is intended to help you enter income from investment transactions into your return.
Interest: If you earned interest on deposits from a checking or savings account, you likely received a 1099-INT. You also might get this form if you got a bonus for opening an account,or if the IRS was delayed in sending you your refund. If your interest amount was under $10 you might not receive this form, but you should still go through the guide to determine if/how to enter it into your return.
Dividends: If you owned U.S. stocks, mutual funds, or other investments that organization might have paid you a dividend you should receive a 1099-DIV form to report this income. There are special tax rules for dividend income for nonresident aliens, and this guide will help walk you through them.
Capital gains: If you sold a U.S. stock or mutual fund for more money than what you paid for it, you have a capital gain and should receive a 1099-B form. There can be special rules for capital gains for nonresident aliens, and this guide will help walk you through them. Note that sales or exchange of cryptocurrency is also considered gains, but as they are out of scope for our clinic we will not cover how to correctly report them.
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If you have a treaty benefit for wages, but either didn’t get a 1042-S form, or your treaty benefits do not match your 1042-S form, this guide will help you claim your full treaty benefit. The most common situations this occurs are:
You received a W-2 for some wages, a 1042-S for some wages, and your total of W-2 + 1042-S wages is less than your treaty benefit.
- This commonly occurs when individuals sign their treaty benefit paperwork with HR after they have started working. Their first few paychecks may be reported on a W-2, and then later ones are reported on the 1042-S
- This happens for both teachers and researchers who have an unlimited maximum of treaty benefits for wages, and for students who have a limited amount of treaty exempt wage income, and their total income is less than their treaty benefit.
You only received a W-2 for wages. You are eligible for a treaty benefit, but you did not receive a 1042-S form.
- This commonly occurs for individuals who do not work for the U of M, or who never signed treaty paperwork with payroll at the UofM.
- In this case your “1042-S” is $0.
You received two 1042-S forms, and together they total more than your treaty benefit.
- This commonly occurs when students transfer between schools, and each school independently applies the treaty to their wages. -
This guide will help you update your return when you received a scholarship or fellowship grant(s), but did not have an income document for some or all of it
Your only documentation may be fellowship award letter, One-Stop student account statement, One-Stop My Pay record, or some other notice.
Generally treaty benefits for scholarships and fellowships are unlimited. This means that whatever your amount of scholarship or fellowship income is, it will “match” your treaty benefits. If you are from the Commonwealth of Independent States (the only treaty where benefits are limited) and your 1042-S for scholarships exceeds your treaty benefit, please contact us at taxassistance@nrvtap.com and we’ll assist you with this correction.
Fellowship or Scholarship Not Reported on 1042-S Guide -
If you made a contribution to a U.S. charitable organization, this guide will help you determine if you can deduct that on your tax return, and then walk you through the steps to do so.
Charitable contributions can be of money or property. You must keep records to provide the amount or value of the contributions you have made. Contributions exceeding $250 will generally require additional documentation. Donations of property are valued based on the fair market value of the items at the time of the contribution, not the original value.
The contributions must be to qualified charitable organizations. You can verify your organization here: https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/
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In very limited situations, individuals who are tax residents of Canada, Mexico, India, and S. Korea may be able to take a deduction for a dependent (a child or possibly a parent, never a spouse). In general, only a parent from Canada, Mexico, India, or S. Korea; who has a child that is both a U.S. citizen and has a SSN; will be able to claim that child as a dependent.
This guide walks you through the fine details of who qualifies, and helps you claim the dependent if you meet the requirements.
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If you are paying interest on a qualifying student loan, you may be able to deduct that interest on your taxes. You should get a 1098-E document to report the interest, and this guide will help you include it on your tax return.
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Did you receive a 1099-R? This is very unusual, but can happen if you start working for a company and get signed up for their retirement plan, then leave the company and have that money returned to you. This guide walks you through how to enter that income in TaxSlayer if you received one of these forms.