These treaties protect nonresident aliens from having to pay taxes on United States based income in the United States. Visitors who claim exemption under a tax treaty will have to pay taxes for their United States based income in their home country. The existence of a tax treaty does not automatically exempt an individual from paying taxes. An individual must meet the qualifications for exemption as set forth in the treaty article. Student exemptions from withholding exist for several countries but are limited to specific dollar amounts per calendar year.
Most treaties specify a limited number of years that an individual is eligible for the exemption.
The Internal Revenue Service enforces strict regulations concerning tax treaty exemption. Listed below are these regulations as they apply to employees. They will be strictly enforced. Only the most current version of the form 8233 will be accepted. Forms are available from the Payroll Office, or they can be retrieved from our web site.