Instructions for Human Resources Personnel

Tax Residency Form for Regular State Employees

The Payroll Tax Residency Information Form is to be filled out by all state paid employees who indicate on their I-9 that they are "an alien authorized to work until..."

The purpose of this form is to collect immigration information that will aid Tax Services in determining the individual's residency status for U.S. taxation.

All nonresident alien employees must complete section A: Personal Information at the top of page one, and sign and date section C: Certification (page 2). If the employee has been in the U.S. prior to this current visit, they must also complete section B: Prior Visits.

General Notes
Under Date of Original Port of Entry under Current Immigration Status, the employee should enter the date that they first arrived in the U.S. under their current immigration status. If the employee is sponsored by your institution (ex: J-1 scholar or H-1B), generally this will be the date they arrived in the U.S. in order to work at your institution.

When the employee has completed the form, ask the following questions:

• If the employee did not complete the Prior Visit section, ask: Prior to coming to this institution, had you ever been in the U.S. before?
• If the employee has completed the Prior Visit section, review for missing information. Has the employee: Given the number of days present by calendar year? Given the purpose and the immigration status held each visit?
• Let the employee know: By signing this form you are agreeing to notify Payroll, should your immigration status change.

In addition to completing the Payroll Tax Residency Information form, please gather the employee's immigration documents that show current immigration status and make copies to send with the Payroll Tax Residency Information Form to Tax Services. For a list of acceptable immigration documents, please see "Immigration Documents International Hires".

After verifying that the employee has completed the Payroll Tax Residency Information form satisfactorily, the campus must make a copy and send the original form and copies of immigration documentation to Tax Services for the Residency Starting Year to be calculated. Scan and send the form by Secure File Share (formerly MoveItSecurely) to Ann Page.  

Tax Services will return the completed Payroll Tax Residency Information form to the institution and indicate whether to tax the employee as a nonresident or a resident. The institution, in addition to applying the correct tax treatment via SEMA4, must track the Tax Residency Years of their employees who are nonresident aliens for tax purposes so that when they become resident aliens for tax purposes, they are correctly taxed. Note: When an employee reaches their tax residency start year, they will become a resident alien for tax purposes. Resident aliens for tax purposes are subject to the same withholding tax rules as U.S. citizens.

Keep the original Payroll Tax Residency form and documentation in a file separate from the employee's I-9 form.

If you have questions, please email: ann.page@minnstate.edu.