Yes, you need to pay taxes (  taxpayers living outside the United States ). Regardless of your status, as long as you  have legal income in the United States , you  need to file a tax return , but usually the income of American international students is not too high (RA, TA or scholarship), and the most important Is to confirm your identity: Resident Alien or Non-Resident Alien Note: If you are a Non-Resident Alien, do not use Turbotax to generate 1040NR, because  Turbotax "cannot" generate 1040NR! !! Super important!  !  !  If I have a friend fill in the wrong one, and return E File, the whole process will become quite complicated!