Taxes are your responsibility. Don't put off thinking about them until early April lest you incur fines and other legal penalties as well as temporary bankruptcy. Please read the following carefully and act accordingly.
If you are receiving a stipend from the University or one that is administered by the University, check your end of August's pay stub to see if anything was withheld for state and federal income tax purposes. If so, you can relax a bit; investigate further only to the extent of making sure that the withholding amounts are "in the ballpark." However, if nothing has been withheld, then you must file quarterly Estimated Tax Returns with the IRS and the State of Missouri. Forms and instructions for estimated tax returns may be obtained from:
1-800-829-3676 1-800-877-6881
www.irs.gov dor.mo.gov/tax/forms
Don't put off obtaining the forms and completing them as instructed. A number of students who neglected to do this in the past have been pursued and fined by tax agencies.
- If the University is not withholding from my check, is there anything I can do to change this? No. The University's policy is to withhold on graduate assistantships and not to withhold on awards designated as fellowships. Even though the distinction between assistants and fellows is often blurred in practice, there is nothing you can do to change the description of your award as it was entered into the accounting system.
- What about tuition scholarships for tax purposes? Don't report them on your tax forms. Every tuition scholarship in the Graduate School meets the current IRS criteria for tax exemption.
- What about Social Security? As a full-time student, you are exempt from Social Security taxes. You may have to pay Social Security on income unrelated to your studies, but you don't have to pay it on your assistantship or fellowship stipend.
- What if my estimated payments were too low and I can't afford to pay the tax amounts due on April 15th? Try to scrape by as best you can, possibly "with a little help from your friends," and do a better estimation in the future. While some may be able to obtain a short-term loan from the Graduate School, be aware that Graduate School loan funds are extremely limited: first come, first served, with an empty till for last-minute laggards.
- I'm a foreign student. How do the rules apply to me? Every case is different. Go to Stix International House for advice.
