Nonresident Alien

To determine tax residency, non-U.S. citizen employees, students or independent contractors, excluding permanent residents, are required to use GLACIER, a nonresident tax compliance system that collects information about an individual's immigration status, visa, country of residency and history of presence in the United States. To properly pay and tax employees, the following determinations must be made:

• Residency tax status (nonresident or resident for tax purposes)
• Eligibility to claim a tax treaty exemption (based on country of residence)
• Nonresident Social Security and Medicare tax exemption

Upon completion of the required data within GLACIER, all system-generated forms and copies of immigration documents must be submitted to Payroll Services to withhold the appropriate taxes from an employee’s payroll payments.

GLACIER Is the Nonresident Tax Compliance System

GLACIER is designed to collect information about an individual's immigration status, citizenship, residency and history of presence in the United States to determine an individual's residency tax status (nonresident or resident alien for tax purposes) and eligibility to claim a tax treaty exemption and/or the nonresident social security tax exemption. The system is designed to allow the individual to input all information online; however, Payroll Services does the initial setup for accountability purposes.

Ensure You Renew Your Tax Treaty Status and Update Your Information

All non-U.S. citizen employees (excluding permanent residents) are required to use GLACIER. Payroll Services runs the Tax Treaty renewal process and sends out an email to all who require the renewal. This is sent out usually by November each year.

Throughout the year, all individuals who have established records in GLACIER will be periodically reminded to log back in to GLACIER to update their records and resubmit paperwork if there are changes to the following:

• Immigration status
• Expected departure date
• Email or home address
• Social Security number

Doing so will prompt Payroll Services to make any changes required in a timely manner to ensure compliance with all federal nonresident tax laws.