TAXES

PLEASE HELP US IMPROVE

If any information presented here is inaccurate or questionable, please let us know ASAP by submitting the Feedback Form at the bottom of this page! The resources we provide can be valuable if correct, but harmful if incorrect. We are committed to providing all UMass Dartmouth graduate students with the most accurate information possible!

We also welcome any additional info and updates for this page; please help us improve it by submitting your suggestions.

SUMMARY OF TAXES

Taxes can be very difficult to calculate due to their complexity for different situations. However, for domestic graduate students we've done our best to provide the following information and examples. (This info may also apply to international graduate students, unless their home country has a tax exemption treaty with the US?)

All of these income taxes are mandatory unless otherwise noted, and should be included when budgeting your living expenses. For graduate student income and expense information, see the Survive page [coming soon].

Roughly, we estimate that graduate student employees may pay a total of 2% - 12% of their income per year in state and federal income taxes, as follows:

• • If you earned $9,600 total in 2024 (no summer income), your total income tax may be: $260 (state) + $0 (federal) = $260 in total income taxes (2.7% of your total income)

  • If you earned $16,000 total in 2024 (no summer income), your total income tax may be: $580 (state) + $140 (federal) = $720 in total income taxes (4.5% of your total income)

  • If you earned $24,000 total in 2024 (including summer income), your total income tax may be: $980 (state) + $940 (federal) + $600 (summer OBRA) + $116 (summer Medicaid)= $2,636 in total income taxes (11% of your total income)

Additionally, international students have tax treaties that vary greatly from one country to another. For example, a student from Sri Lanka does not have any tax exemption, and a student from the Philippines has a $3,000 exemption. Other countries like Bangladesh and India have larger tax exemptions.

• • For international students with nonresident alien status, see the IRS's Notice 1392, Supplemental Form W-4 Instructions for Nonresident Aliens webpage

Note that all graduate student employees are always exempt from federal Social Security tax (6.2%), even during the summers.

We urge all graduate students to research their tax obligation(s) in order to estimate their finances accurately!

FEDERAL INCOME TAX

Federal income tax may be 10% of your income after the first $14,600 you earned.

• If you earned $9,600 total in 2024, your federal income tax may be: $9,600 - $14,600 (the standard deduction) = negative taxable income = $0 in federal income tax

• If you earned $16,000 total in 2024, your federal income tax may be: $16,000 - $14,600 (the standard deduction) = $1,400 taxable income, taxed at 10% = $140 in federal income tax

• If you earned $24,000 total in 2024, your federal income tax may be: $24,000 - $14,600 (the standard deduction) = $9,400 taxable income, taxed at 10% = $940 in federal income tax

• Federal income tax can be calculated at various financial websites (such as NerdWallet's Federal Income Tax Calculator webpage)

MA STATE INCOME TAX

Massachusetts state income tax is 5.0% of your income after the first $4,400 you earned.

• If you earned $9,600 total in 2024, your MA state income tax may be: $9,600 - $4,400 (personal exemption) = $5,200 taxable income, taxed at 5% = $260 in MA state income tax

• If you earned $16,000 total in 2024, your MA state income tax may be: $16,000 - $4,400 (personal exemption) = $11,600 taxable income, taxed at 5% = $580 in MA state income tax

• If you earned $24,000 total in 2024, your MA state income tax may be: $24,000 - $4,400 (personal exemption) = $19,600 taxable income, taxed at 5% = $980 in MA state income tax

• A MA state income tax calculator can be found on eFile's Massachusetts Income Taxes Calculator webpage. (Some other websites don't calculate it correctly! Note that for this website, the "Annual State Income" is after subtracting out the $4,400 personal exemption.)

SUMMER INCOME TAXES

If an international or domestic grad worker isn't registered as a student during the summer, and because the summer is an intersession longer than 5 weeks, any income earned during the summer (4 months) is taxed at 1.45% for federal Medicaid, plus 7.5% for Massachusetts OBRA mandatory retirement account contributions (see the OBRA  Mandatory Retirement Program section below for more information). This is because 

• If you earned $8,000 in summer 2024, and earned more than $22,600 total in 2024 (to factor in the $14,600 standard deduction), your federal Medicaid tax may be: $8,000 taxable income, taxed at 1.45% = $116 in federal Medicaid tax

• If you earned $8,000 in summer 2024, and earned more than $12,400 total in 2024 (to factor in the $4,400 personal exemption), your state OBRA tax may be: $8,000 taxable income, taxed at 7.5% = $600 in state OBRA tax

  • • Some universities refund the OBRA tax at the beginning of each Fall semester. However, UMass Dartmouth doesn't do this.

OBRA PROGRAM

The Massachusetts OBRA mandatory retirement account contribution is Massachusetts' alternative to federal Social Security tax.

In the summers, all domestic grad workers (and international grad workers living in the US for more than 5 years) are considered "part-time, seasonal (less than 1 year contract), or temporary (non-benefited) employees" and therefore in MA MUST contribute to an OBRA mandatory retirement account (the MA SMART 457 Plan) from their pre-tax income. For more info on the MA SMART 457 plan, visit Empower's OBRA webpage.

The OBRA withholding will be listed in the Before-Tax Deductions section of your summer paychecks as “Alternative Retrment Mandatory.”

You can create and log into your OBRA account from Empower's MA Deferred Compensation Smart Plan webpage.

The cost of OBRA contributions is 7.5% of a student employee's pre-taxed income. Additionally, there is a $12.00 annual fee for their account to be maintained. This account cannot be rolled over to any other retirement account, and students cannot remove the funds until they have "separated" (graduated, withdrawn, or taken a leave of absence) from the university. Note that OBRA contributions do not count toward Social Security benefit credits (which are needed when filing for disability benefits, such as for Long COVID disability).

All students can get their OBRA contributions back (if they request it!!) after separating from the university. Students must first get an End of Term Date (the date they will be separating from UMassD) on their academic record, then access their OBRA account online to request the refund. However, it can't be direct deposited into an overseas account (such as for international students), it must be a domestic bank account OR they will mail a check to the mailing address on file. If the address is out of date or the check cannot be direct deposited to a domestic bank account, the OBRA refund will never reach the student! If the student can't be contacted after 1 year, their money goes to the state of MA.

After 1 year, students who didn't receive their OBRA refund can claim it on MA Unclaimed Property's Search for Unclaimed Property webpage.

SOCIAL SECURITY TAX

All graduate student employees are always exempt from the 6.2% federal Social Security tax, even for income earned in the summers. Whew!

Notes:

From https://blog.sprintax.com/f1-visa-tax-return-guide-international-students/:
"In general, international students who are in the US on an F-1 visa are considered nonresident aliens for tax purposes for the first five calendar years of their stay in the US."

Substantial Presence Test:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/substantial-presence-test

Calculator:
https://philhogan.com/substantial-presence-test-calculator/

Is there a way to estimate taxes for international students??? GLACIER Tax Prep (GTP) software is provided for free from the university??? Can be used to estimate taxes???
https://www.umassd.edu/international_students/taxes/details/

MIT has good info:

https://vpf.mit.edu/by-topic/general-tax-information/basic-information-about-us-system-and-tax-authorities?active=227

(Check out all of the links in all 3 subcategories of the "Students" section on the left sidebar.)

SUBMIT FEEDBACK

If anything on our website is inaccurate or questionable, please let us know ASAP by submitting the Feedback Form below! We also welcome any updates or additional info you have; please help us improve this page by submitting your suggestions.

DISCLAIMERS

"No Warranties" Disclaimer: All of the information provided on this Graduate Student Union website is provided on an "AS-IS" and "AS-AVAILABLE" basis with NO WARRANTIES. No express or implied warranties of any type, including implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, are made with respect to the information, or any use of the information, on this website. No representations are made and no warranties of any type are extended as to the accuracy or completeness of any information or content on this website.

"Use at Your Own Risk" Disclaimer: None of the authors, contributors, administrators, vandals, or anyone else connected with the Graduate Student Union (GSU), in any way whatsoever, can be responsible for your use of the information contained in or linked from any GSU webpage. The user is responsible for taking all steps necessary to ascertain that information received from the GSU website is correct and has been verified.

"Errors and Omissions" Disclaimer: The Graduate Student Union assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or omissions on this website, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. All information in this site is provided "as is", with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information.