Information for Scholarship/Grant/Waiver Recipients

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Student Status and Tax Withholding Overview

Nonresident Alien for Tax Purposes: The U.S. defines this status as an international person who has not been physically present in the United States for the amount of time required to be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes. A nonresident alien for tax purposes has a completely different method of having tax withheld, completing tax forms and tax documents, and is eligible for very few and limited deductions and allowances when paying taxes. A nonresident alien for tax purposes must only report and pay tax on money that they receives from U.S. sources.

Resident Alien for Tax Purposes: This is defined by U.S. tax regulations as an international person who has a green card (Permanent Residence card) or satisfies the substantial presence test and is taxed in the same manner as a U.S. citizen. A resident alien for tax purposes must report ALL income from ALL sources, regardless of whether from the U.S. or foreign payors.

Withholding on Student Accounts: For Nonresident Alien students with scholarships/fellowships, tuition waivers, or other awards that exceed qualified expenses (US income) in their Student Account, the residual amounts are taxable, and the University is required to apply a default withholding to the excess.

Visa types may determine the withholding rate, generally 14% or 30%.

A student completing a Sprintax record with a tax treaty may reduce or eliminate withholding.

Qualified Expenses: Qualified expenses are amounts paid for tuition, fees, and other related expenses for an eligible student that are required for enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institution. Even if you pay the following expenses to enroll or attend the school, the following are not qualified education expenses:

  • Room and board
  • Insurance
  • Medical expenses (including student health fees)
  • Transportation (including shuttle bus fees)
  • Similar personal, living, or family expenses

NRA students with scholarship/fellowship/waiver amounts that do not exceed their University qualified expenses will not have tax withholding applied to their Student Account.

Sprintax Calculus (Sprintax) Overview and Function:

Sprintax is a secure online tax compliance system designed to give Nonresident Aliens and Resident Aliens the ability to provide UTA with their required documentation to determine taxability efficiently and effectively. Completion of account registration is conveniently located online, and no in-person visit is required.

Sprintax will help you:

  • Determine residency for tax purposes
  • Tax treaty eligibility
  • Retrieval of your 1042-S for filing income tax returns, if applicable

Examples of documents that may be required to complete the Sprintax profile:

  • Visa
  • Passport
  • I-20 (F-1 Status Only)
  • I-94
  • DS-2019 (J-1 Status Only)
  • I-797

Timeline to complete: 5 days from when the Sprintax email notification is sent.