[taxmd]

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.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

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.

[taxmd]

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.

[taxmd]

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.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

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.