Campus Life

Global Programs Tax Workshops help international students understand U.S. taxes

A volunteer helps a student learn about the tax system during the spring 2019 semester. Credit: ProvidedAll Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Each year, the Office of Global Programs hosts free informational workshops to provide international students and scholars with information related to filing federal, local and state tax returns. The office relies on 20 community and student volunteers to make general presentations and answer student questions during information sessions.

The program has been helping international members of the Penn State community since 1998, originally by the International Hospitality Council, a precursor to Global Connections, a non-profit organization in State College. Global Connections and Global Programs have enjoyed a longstanding partnership, and in 2019, the Office of Global Programs began administering the annual tax workshops.

The workshops usually begin in March and run through April 15, the federal tax deadline. This year, when the coronavirus pandemic resulted in campus closures, the program organizers pivoted quickly and transitioned all workshops to a virtual format and offered additional email support. When the IRS extended the 2019 tax deadline to July 15, more workshops were added, and volunteers continued to help. 

“Our volunteers were amazing,” said Wenjie Fu, external relations coordinator in the Community Engagement Programs Office in Global Programs. Fu coordinates the workshops.

“When the pandemic hit, all of our volunteers agreed to continue to help virtually. Then, when the tax deadline was extended, they lengthened their volunteer commitment for an additional three months to continue to help students and scholars.”

For their part, the volunteers seemed to enjoy their time with the program.

“The program is an excellent opportunity to meet and assistant international students and scholars … Thank you for the opportunity!” said one volunteer.

More than 150 students and scholars from 30 countries were served via in-person and virtual workshops, with nearly 300 students and scholars receiving assistance via email.

Student response was overwhelmingly positive.

“All of the emails I sent were responded to within a short time and with useful and abundant information. They didn’t only tackle my questions, but the entire context, which saved me follow-up questions … Loved their dedication and serious approach!” said one scholar.

For the first time, the program was also offered to students at the Commonwealth Campuses. Students were able to join virtually from their own campus to get help with their federal and state tax returns.

“We have been wanting to offer more support to students across the commonwealth,” said Fu. “Even before the pandemic, we set up Zoom calls. Then once we transitioned to a virtual format, campus students were able to join the online workshops.” 

This year, Global Programs partnered with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, an IRS-sponsored program designed to provide support to low-income, special needs, and senior citizen taxpayers. Two Global Programs volunteers joined in the training with VITA, which provided both sides with additional insight into the tax process and the specific needs of nonresident taxpayers.

Overall, the program proved to be nimble in the face of rapid changes, resilient in the face of extended tax deadlines, and most importantly, incredibly helpful to its clients.

“It is gratifying for me to be able to provide this program with our volunteers for Penn State international students and scholars. Without this service, it is difficult for international individuals to find useful material from the ocean of tax information by themselves, and it easily leads to misfiling or incorrect filing for them, which requires more work in the coming years,” said Fu.

“Besides our regular tax workshop for the current tax year, we also helped many individuals who had submitted wrong tax forms and assisted them in finding the information to file their amended returns," she added. “Unlike American citizens, international individuals only have minimal resources to guide them with their tax returns, so it is our pleasure to provide the Tax Workshops as essential tax information support for Penn State international community."

For more information on the Global Programs Tax Workshops, contact Wenjie Fu at wzf11@psu.edu.

Last Updated April 15, 2021