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International Taxes

The Office of the Bursar is required to review all United States based financial aid awarded to international students and determine if the aid is subject to tax.

Foreign persons who receive United States based financial aid (grants, fellowships, assistantships, outside, and university scholarships) that is in excess of tuition and fees may be required to pay tax on the excess amount. 

Penn State is required to withhold international taxes on any amount of U.S. based aid that you receive in excess of tuition and mandatory fees. Penn State uses SprinTax Calculus for collecting all foreign paperwork and communicating with students the information related to international taxes. 

Please log into SprinTax Calculus to create your account, using your Penn State Access Account ID. Once you have logged into SprinTax, please go to the current tax year and complete all sections to ensure successful residency and tax determination.  Completing the questionnaire is important to ensure you are coded and your student account taxed correctly in LionPATH based on your visa type and country of citizenship. 

When completing your questionnaire, please pay special attention to the Tax Forms Info section.  In this section, please be sure to check the box labeled “Scholarship or fellowship grants (Income Code 16)”.  Failure to check this box will result in the inability to assign a tax rate for income related to scholarships/grants.  You may also need to check additional boxes if receiving other income (ex. Income Code 20 for Compensation during studying and training).

If you have questions while completing the residency questionnaire, please use the SprinTax Calculus Live Chat feature for immediate help.  If you’re having issues logging into SprinTax, please reach out to the Payroll Office at [email protected] for assistance.

In addition to completing the residency questionnaire, we encourage you to provide electronic consent enabling you to receive Form 1042-S electronically, when available.  Electronic consent only has to be provided once, and you will receive a separate email each year when your Form 1042-S has been generated and is available to be viewed in Sprintax.  Failure to provide electronic consent will result in you receiving a paper Form 1042-S, which may be delayed due to mailing.

What to do if I have not received my 1042-S Form?

Form 1042-S is issued to non-resident aliens who, for the calendar year, received wages exempted from federal tax withholding by a tax treaty and/or received excess U.S. based aid above the total amount of tuition and mandatory fees. 

If you provided consent to access your Form 1042-S electronically, please log into SprinTax Calculus and then select “Tax Forms” from the top menu. 

Please note:

  • If you have agreed to electronic consent, a paper version of your Form 1042-S will not be mailed.
  • If you have not provided electronic consent, your Form 1042-S will be mailed.

 

If you have any questions about international taxes, please click on the "Contact" link at the top of this page and select International Taxes under the category. Our staff will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.

See below for reference: