Hi

I am student on F1 visa. I qualify as a resident for federal tax purposes (I have spent 6 years in US on the F1 visa). I got married last year and I need to apply for an ITIN number for my wife. I have two questions :

1) I understand that I need to fill in W-7 and send it with 1040 and other related federal tax return forms with appropriate notarized documents as mentioned in W-7. I read that the ITIN is issued 4 to 6 weeks after the documents are received. My question is : If I take the documents requisite to apply for an ITIN directly to a local IRS office, can I be issued an ITIN instantly ? Will the process be any quicker (than 4 weeks) if I take the documents to a local IRS office rather than sending them to Texas ?

2) My Graduate Assistantship pays my tution fees. But in my graduate school, I need to pay a fee called "Mandatory Fee" that is not covered by my assistantship. This fee is levied every semester. I have paid about $620 towards "Mandatory Fee" last year. Can I write off $620 under the "Tution and Fee Deduction" section of Form 1040 ? I will send them Form 8917 if I can deduct the mandatory fee that I have been paying.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

1) Yes, that IS possible, but call ahead FIRST to make sure they offer that service. It is MUCH faster.

2) Maybe, if the fee is listed on the Form 1098-T that you should be getting. Ask your university registrar if this fee is eligble to be claimed against the tuition credit.

Thanks for your quick response.

I did try to access my 1098-T form from my graduate school. I got a response saying that there was no such form against my name - may be because my assistantship had always covered my semester fees.

I'll check with my registrar. Thank you.

I found this example listed at IRS's site on "Tuition and Fee Deduction". It looks like I can write away the mandatory fee that I had mentioned in my previous post.

Example 3.

When Marci enrolled at College X for her freshman year, she had to pay a separate student activity fee in addition to her tuition. This activity fee is required of all students, and is used solely to fund on-campus organizations and activities run by students, such as the student newspaper and the student government. No portion of the fee covers personal expenses. Although labeled as a student activity fee, the fee is required for Marci's enrollment and attendance at College X. Therefore, it is a qualified expense.

That may be a correct interpretation.

However, the IRS keys on the Form 1098-T. While they recognize that colleges will make mistakes on such issues, if the fee is not listed on the 1098-T and you claim it anyway, you stand a good chance of it being challenged by the IRS.