Download the WH-1 form if you haven't already. This guide covers each section, line by line, of the form.
Section A. Personal Information
1. General Information
- Last Name: Enter your family name/surname from your passport.
- First Name: Enter your given name(s) from your passport, if applicable.
- Middle: Enter a middle name, if applicable.
Note: If you have a tax ID, this should match the name used on your SSN or ITIN card.
- S. Social Security Number or ITIN Number: Enter your number, if you have one. If you do not have an SSN or ITIN, then you cannot claim a tax treaty benefit (e.g., 0% tax withholding on your scholarship), nor can you claim resident alien status for the scholarship if you qualify.
- Country of Citizenship: Enter the country where you claim citizenship. This normally is represented by the passport you used to enter the U.S.
- Country of Residence for Tax Purpose: This is usually where you hold permanent residency and live when you are not in the U.S. For most, this is the same as the country of citizenship. This will determine your applicable tax treaty. For example, if you have Japanese citizenship, but your permanent residence is in South Korea, then tax treaty benefits would be based on the South Korea-U.S. tax treaty.
- [For Non-UH Personnel]: You may skip this part.
2. Mailing Address
- This mailing address is where your payments will be mailed (unless you sign up for direct deposit), and where tax documents (like 1042-S) accounting for those payments will be mailed. If your address changes at any point after you submit this form, you need to submit this form again with the updated address as soon as possible. If you are currently living outside the U.S. and do not have a U.S. mailing address, leave it blank or enter “N/A.”
- Number and Street: Use correct formatting. Building number comes before the street, and if you have a room (RM), apartment (APT) or unit (UNIT), it should come after the street. Commas (,) and periods (.) are not needed. Example: 2600 Campus Rd Rm 206
- City: Enter the city name in full. Example: Honolulu
- State: Enter the abbreviation for the state. Example: HI for Hawaii
- Zip Code: Enter the 5-digit zip code. Example: 96822. If you know the 4-digit routing number following the zip code, you may also enter it, but it’s not necessary. Example: 96822-1330.
3. Foreign Mailing Address
- This mailing address may be used to send payments and tax documents (like 1042-S) if you do not have a U.S. mailing address. If your address changes at any point after you submit this form, you need to submit this form again with the updated address as soon as possible.
- Number and Street: Enter enough information so that any mail sent would be able to reach you.
- City/Province: You may enter your city and/or province, if applicable.
- Country: Enter your country.
- Postal Code: Enter your postal code, if applicable.
Section B. US Immigration Activity
1. Current Visa Status
- Date of U.S. entry: Enter the first time you entered the U.S. on your current visa status. This assumes that you are an F-1 or J-1 student. For example, if you have been in the U.S. as an F-1 for a graduate program, but had been in the U.S. ten years earlier as an F-1 on an undergraduate program, then enter the date that you entered as an F-1 for the undergraduate program. If you have already departed the U.S. and given up your visa status, then you can still provide the earliest entry of that last visa status.
- Expiration Date of Current Visa: Enter the expiration date of the current visa used to enter the U.S.
- Intended Length of Stay (Days): Estimate the days of stay based on your anticipated final departure. Final departure is when you depart the U.S. and end your current visa status (with no immediate intent to return in that visa status). If you are an F-1 or J-1 student, you can use the end date on your I-20 or DS-2019 as an anticipated departure date.
- Anticipated Departure Date: Enter the end date from your I-20 or DS-2019, if you do not plan departing and ending your visa status any sooner. If you have already departed and ended your visa status (and do not plan to re-enter in this visa status), then provide that departure date.
- Current Visa Type: Enter your current visa type. This guidance assumes you are or were an F-1 or J-1 student.
- What is the primary purpose of this visit: Check “Studying/Training/Research in a Degree Program.”
2. Is this the first time you have entered the United States?
- Based on your personal entry history (not visa status), answer the question. If you have only ever entered the U.S. once, then answer “yes.” Otherwise, answer “no.” Your visa history should support this answer.
3. Past Visa History
- Calendar Year: Make sure that your form shows the current calendar year on the top row.
- Enter Visa Type/INS classification held while present in the U.S. during the listed calendar year: Enter the visa type in which you were present for each calendar year. If you came separately on different visas, enter all of them. Example: F-1, J-1, B-2
- Enter the period(s) when you were or will be physically present in the U.S. during the listed calendar year: For the entire calendar year, you can provide an estimated period of time you were in the U.S. Example: 1/01/21-12/31/21. You do not have to enter every entry and exit date. You do not have to provide a duration for each visa status listed for the year. Providing one start date and end date for the total time you were present in the U.S. for all visa types is sufficient. In the current calendar year, do not enter an end date of today or when you submit the form. If you have not departed yet, you should project a future date. If you know that you will not be leaving the U.S. this year, then you can enter the last day of the year for the end date.
- Number of days present in the United States: Estimate the total number of days you were present in the U.S. An exact number is not needed unless you may pass the threshold to be a resident alien for tax purposes. In the current calendar year, if you are still in the U.S., you must enter the estimated days for the entire year. Do not count up to today only, or up to the day you submit the form.
- Are you leaving the U.S. this year? Answer this question based on whether you will be departing and ending your current visa status with no intention of returning on that status.
4. Please list all F, J, M or Q visas since January 1, 1985 not listed in Section B,3.
- It is important that you provide this past immigration history. You must also include any time spent as a dependent in those visa classifications (e.g., F-2).
Section C. Tax Status Determination
STEP 1: Complete the Substantial Presence Test (SPT) by completing the table below.
- The SPT is a test to see if you qualify as a “nonresident alien” or “resident alien” for tax purposes for this current calendar year.
- Exclude counting days of presence or any calendar year you were on an F or J visa (including F-2 or J-2), up to a five year limit. For the table, you need to provide days for the current calendar year, plus the past two years. The form will automatically calculate for you. However, if you do it manually, please remember to multiply the total for each year by the ratio provided to get the actual days to count. Round up to the nearest whole number. Add them all for Total # of Days, and answer the questions that follow. For more information, go the IRS pages for Substantial Presence Test or Exempt Individual - Who is a Student in the right-side navigation.
- Example 1. 2021 is the current calendar year. You entered the U.S. in 2020 to start a graduate degree program. But you were also in the U.S. from 2005 to 2010 as an F-1 student when you were doing a bachelor’s degree. Since 2005 to 2009 uses up your first 5 years of exemption from counting, your F-1 or J-1 periods of stay after that should always be included in your SPT count. In this example, you would enter all the days from 2020 and 2021 (including projected days of stay for the rest of the calendar year).
- Example 2. 2021 is the current calendar year. You entered the U.S. in 2020 as an F-1 student to start a graduate degree program. You have never been in the U.S. before except for a tourist trip in 2019. Therefore, you are still exempt from counting the days of presence for F-1. 2020 and 2021 would be your first two years of exemption. Enter “0” for 2021 and 2020. However, you still need to enter the days of presence as a tourist in 2019. This number would then be multiplied by 1/6 to get the final amount.
STEP 2: Please answer the following questions:
- Both questions A and B should be based on the information entered in the table in Step 1.
STEP 3: Determine your tax status:
- If you marked “yes” to both questions in Step 2, then you will be treated as a Resident Alien (RA) for tax purposes, and should skip Section D, then sign in Section E.
- If you are an RA and have an SSN/ITIN, UH is not responsible for reporting or withholding taxes on your scholarship. However, this does not mean that you are not liable for taxes. You will need to determine this when you report all your income (including this scholarship) on your federal income tax return.
- If you do not have an SSN or ITIN, then UH cannot pay you until you get an SSN or ITIN.
- If you answer “no” to one or both questions in Step 2, you will be treated as a Nonresident Alien (NRA) for tax purposes, and should complete Section D.
Section D. Exemption from Withholding for the Nonresident Alien
All Payments made to Nonresident Aliens are subject to US federal tax withholding at a statutory rate of 30%.
- This part tells you the criteria for getting a tax treaty benefit. For scholarship situations, (1) your home country must have a tax treaty with the U.S. and it has to have an article regarding scholarships; (2) you must meet all the requirements of the treaty article; and (3) you have a Social Security Number or ITIN. If you do not have a tax ID (SSN or ITIN) at the time you submit this form, then you cannot claim any tax treaty benefits as a “nonresident alien.”
Do you want to claim a treaty exemption from U.S. federal tax withholding?
Check Tax Treaty Countries with Scholarship Benefits to see if you have an applicable tax treaty benefit. If you do, you can only claim it if you have an SSN/ITIN.
- Yes - I am a resident of a country...: If you that you can claim a tax treaty benefit for a scholarship, then mark this and enter your tax treaty country on the blank line. You must include a form W-8BEN that provides the treaty information.
- No - I choose not to claim a tax treaty exemption...: If you have a tax treaty benefit for a scholarship, but choose not to claim it, then mark this. For student scholarship recipients, it usually doesn’t make sense not to claim the benefit. Your scholarship will be taxed at 14%
- No - I cannot claim a tax treaty exemption...: If you know that you do not have an applicable tax treaty exemption, or you do not meet the requirements for the exemption, then mark this. Your scholarship will be taxed at 14%.
Section E. Certification of Information Provided on this Form
Remember to sign and date this form! You may digitally sign this form to submit, or submit a scan of an original form signed in wet ink.
Once you have completed the form, return to Directions for Processing Scholarship Overawards to continue.