CINTAX will help you determine if you are a resident or a non-resident for U.S. tax purposes. This is important because non-residents pay tax only on their U.S. source income while residents pay tax on their worldwide income. For more information on how your status is determined, click here CINTAX can only be used to complete non-resident tax forms. Most F and J visa holders are considered non-residents for U.S. tax purposes, which means they only pay taxes on their U.S. source income. For more information on U.S. source income click here.

To access CINTAX, go to www.cintax.us. You will need the password that the HIO sent you in an email. You will be asked to set up a User ID and a new password. Be sure to write down your User ID and password in case you need to reenter CINTAX at a later time. Before accessing CINTAX be sure to have your passport, visa document (Form I-20, Form DS-2019) and any payment information you may have received (Forms W-2, 1042-S, 1099). If you are a non-resident, CINTAX will complete the appropriate forms for you to print out. CINTAX does not file the tax forms electronically, so you MUST print, sign and mail the forms generated by CINTAX to the Internal Revenue Service Center in Austin, Texas as instructed by CINTAX. The process of completing your tax forms should take approximately 30 minutes. All information entered into CINTAX is encrypted and secured via SSL technology.

If you encounter problems using CINTAX, contact the CINTAX Support Center at support@cintax.us. CINTAX encourages everyone to file his/her taxes as early as possible. Their web site experiences very high traffic from early April until 4/15/08 when tax forms are due. Their email support team tries its best to provide timely responses to inquiries, but they do get flooded with questions during those last few weeks before the forms are due, so the earlier you file, the better.

If you are unable to use CINTAX to complete your tax forms because CINTAX has determined that you are a resident for tax purposes, you might find the following resources useful:

• The HIO has hired noted tax attorney Paula Singer to create a web site for us that would address the issues not covered by CINTAX. These include federal resident returns and dual status returns, as well as Massachusetts state returns for both residents and non-residents. This site includes sample tax returns but does not complete the forms for you. It is available to anyone with a valid Harvard ID and PIN. Users will need their HUID and PIN to access the site [HERE]


• This IRS web site provides information about resident taxation: http://www.irs.gov/.../article/0,,id=96493,00.html


• Residents for tax purposes are usually taxed like U.S. citizens. Many Americans purchase tax software products that are widely available at stores such as Target and file their taxes on-line using these products.