International Visitors and Faculty
At any given point of time during the year, the University of Notre Dame has a variety of different foreign nationals on campus to whom different types of payments are made, including scholarship or fellowship grants to students, wages paid to employees, or honoraria payments to guest speakers.
International Visitors (non University Employees)
There are special requirements that must be met in order to invite a foreign national to the University for speaking, teaching, or other academic engagements. Additional requirements must be met in order to pay the visitor for services performed or to reimburse expenses. Please refer to the Nonresident Alien Procedures checklist for the details.
Additionally, there are specific federal income tax withholding laws in effect for nonresident aliens. Generally a visitor is a resident alien for tax purposes if they have met either the "green card test" or the "substantial presence test" for the calendar year. Any person not meeting either test is generally a nonresident alien for tax purposes.
If the visitor is a resident of a country with which the U.S. has entered into a tax treaty, the payment to the visitor may be exempted from federal and state income tax withholding. Link to Tax Treaty Exemption for more information. If the visitor is not a resident of a treaty county, the payment will be subject to federal and state income tax withholding at a rate of 33.4%.
NOTE: All visitors requesting compensation for services are required to provide a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Only expense reimbursements can be made without an identification number. If the visitor does not currently have an identification number they have several options:
- The visitor may meet with one of the University's acceptance agents ( click here for list) to apply for an ITIN.
- The visitor may apply at most IRS offices abroad (contact the IRS office abroad to find out if that office accepts Form W-7 applications).
- The visitor can complete the application form at certain U.S. consular offices and then mail it to the IRS.
Caution: If the visitor elects to go with option 2 or 3 above and the ITIN number has not been issued by the IRS at the time of the payment, the University must have a copy of the application prior to making a payment for services. It is also important to inform the visitor that the ITIN number must be reported to the University upon receipt from the IRS.
