I’m sure many of them voted no knowing that the bill would pass and it was just cya so they could get re-elected. The whole thing is despicable.
And D3 is heading off to the world of graduate school…
My kid has about 1.5 years left on her PhD. How in the heck are she and her friends going to do this without going into debt?
Most foreign nationals don’t pay taxes. Something about reciprocal agreement. I would think there are greater flaws on the new proposal but we are continuously harping on tuition remission. I would think there will be simple workaround on this. As someone suggested make it a scholarship. Scholarship used to pay tuition is still not taxable, right?
“I’m sure many of them voted no knowing that the bill would pass and it was just cya so they could get re-elected. The whole thing is despicable.”
Yep and they knew if they didn’t vote no there would be a good chance they’d be out of a job next November. Both Faso & Stefanik are in districts near me and Faso is already very vulnerable.
Again, I am not in favor of this. I think it’s stupid.
But I am trying to understand what the real impact will be, and think of how colleges will adjust to this if it becomes reality. Many/most schools are dependent on cheap labor, one form of which is grad students. They have no choice but to figure something out.
“The sky is falling!” is generally not true, IME.
my daughter has one semester to go in her Masters. She can’t be a TA because she has to do a student teaching thing in another town. I think she has one class she has to pay for. I may tell her to pay for it before year end so she can get the LLC on her 2017 return as it may not be available on 2018
Foreign nationals are subject to US and US state income taxes when they have US-based income (and subject to other US and US state taxes for other activities in the US and US states, such as sales taxes when buying things in the US).
There are tax treaties between countries to handle situations where someone may be subject to more than one country’s income taxes on the same income. From the taxpayer point of view, that may be seen as a “foreign tax credit” (e.g. IRS form 1116).
^Thank you very much for the above clarification. I don’t know where the poster got the idea that “Most foreign nationals are not subject to taxes”…
@emilybee Similar situation here with . I don’t need to donate much in my district to feel like my congressperson will stay there. So, I can donate against other congresspersons. I see this as an attempt to direct donations like mine at . (If doesn’t get indicted by Mueller before that…)
We might want to not promote donations for or against specific candidates – I’d like this thread to stay open until the bill passes into law or crashes and burns…
Probably based on an assumption that “most” foreign nationals in the US are within the Romney 47% who do not pay federal income taxes (because they do not earn that much income). Of course, even if that is the case, it is misleading to leave out federal income in such a claim, since they do end up paying payroll taxes on their labor income and sales taxes when they buy things.
It might have changed since I was in grad school. My foreign classmates didn’t pay taxes. No withholdings.
Again I maintain there will be a simple workaround on tuition waiver.
Pretty hard to escape sales taxes when buying things.
With respect to federal income taxes, graduate student stipends by themselves may not be high enough for someone to get out of the Romney 47%.
I helped foreign students complete their US federal income tax forms as part of an international tax class I was taking at the time.
@ucbalumnus #912 That may be for grad students but it was the same for post docs. In our group, there were a few foreign post docs who didn’t get any tax withholdings while American post docs got a smaller check for the same pay after withholdings.
Any way, that is a minor point. What baffles me is people are spending page and page about tuition remission that may be taxed when there is a simple workaround. I have no doubt a workaround will be found and implemented if it becomes law. NRE’s chicken little - sky is falling is right on the mark. I also have a kid in grad school with a tuition waiver. It doesn’t worry me at all.
Adjuncts could be hired. They will be much cheaper labor than grad students. Over time, as PhD programs disappear, availability of adjunct labor will disappear.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/22/adjunct-professor-earn-less-than-pet-sitter
And no, it won’t be easy to reinstate PhD programs once they are gone from universities. It takes decades and lots of financial support. The sky really is falling if you care about these things… believe it or not.
NRE, are you going to pay my tax bill? If not, please stop mocking our very real fear over this.
This is just my life we’re talking about. Nbd.
Has Michigan, or has any school, said how they would respond to this?
My kid makes enough to get out of the 47% without the waiver being taxed… and all grad students in a given program are paid the same for the most part (sometimes a student gets an extra fellowship boost or something, but there isn’t a lot of variety…).
Any reason Universities can’t call tuition waiver tuition scholarship going forward? If not, problem solved. Just call it scholarship to be used to pay tuition. Life goes on as before no disappearing PhD program or falling sky. Did I mention I also have a kid in grad school with a tuition waiver?