Hi,

I am a Ph.D. student from China. I study in New York City, started in Sept. Fall 2012. I got paid for 4 months in 2012. From the amount I received, the first $5000 is not taxed. I think this is by the treaty between US and China as I filed the W-4 form at the beginning of last semester.

However, I only receive a W-2 form from my school showing an amount of a taxed $4000. I think it does not include the first $5000. When I try to file tax for 2012 now, I get confused as the filing system are telling me that the treaty can exempt me from the $4000 tax. But I have no way to show I receive that untaxed $5000 as I only have the W-2 form. Am I missing something such as an 1042-S? My stipend is assigned under research/teaching assistantship at my school.

You should have a Form 1042-S that shows the $5,000 that is exempt from taxation, then a W-2 that shows the rest of your annual income WITHOUT the first $5,000.

Be sure you are filing Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ and NOT using on-line tax software such as TurboTax or TaxAct.

If you believe that you will need professional help filing this year, this IS what I do. Please double-click on my name (Atlanta Tax Expert) above to access my profile. You will find my email address in the signature portion of the profile (scroll down to the BOTTOM of the page).

You should have a Form 1042-S that shows the $5,000 that is exempt from taxation, then a W-2 that shows the rest of your annual income WITHOUT the first $5,000.

Be sure you are filing Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ and NOT using on-line tax software such as TurboTax or TaxAct.

If you believe that you will need professional help filing this year, this IS what I do. Please double-click on my name (Atlanta Tax Expert) above to access my profile. You will find my email address in the signature portion of the profile (scroll down to the BOTTOM of the page).

I'm currently filing 1040NR-EZ with a software purchased by my school. It seems that I'm missing the 1042-S form. I shall check with my school for it before doing anything further.

Thanks for the reply!

Glad to help!