Global Learning at Jamestown Community College provided crucial tax help

Blogger Ayomideji Israel-Akinbo, an engineering science student from Nigeria and South Africa at Jamestown Community College in New York, is documenting his employment journey while he’s studying in the USA. This is the fourth post in his series — read the previous posts: one, two, and three.

There are three things certain in life; birth, death and TAXES. As an international, if you earn an income from a U.S. employer within the tax year, you must pay taxes. This is important as missing taxes will be on your record, and tax evasion is a serious crime with longstanding consequences, such as difficulties in extending or changing status within the U.S. In short, don't mess with the IRS. 

I wasn’t sure where to start

For me, this would be the first time I pay taxes as an adult from my income, which was such a daunting task as I had no idea where to start or how to navigate such a complex process with such heavy consequences. Thankfully Global Learning held a general meeting with a tax consultant to give us important information regarding the documents required and how to fill them in great detail. 

This included W-2s, which is a document that your employer provides to you to show you your income and how much, if any, was withheld for taxes. Then we get into the different categories of taxes such as federal, state, medicare and social security. Luckily internationals don't pay Medicare and Social Security but we do pay the other categories. 

Getting additional help

In this meeting, we were allowed to book an individual meeting with the tax consultant for free, as doing your taxes is harder than it seems. Luckily this meeting was held way in advance for when taxes were due, so to be aware of how much you owe in advance helps with budgeting and planning on spending your funds. 

Another aspect of tax season is the refunds you could receive. This happens if your employer either overpays taxes from your paycheck or accidentally pays for taxes internationals don't qualify for. Usually, as an international, you shouldn't expect a large tax refund compared to Americans as they have deductibles, tax breaks, incentives and so on. 

With all this in mind, I booked an appointment with the tax consultant, and within the space of an hour, I reviewed and paid my taxes directly from my bank account well ahead of the tax deadline. The benefit of doing it so early is the peace of mind that it is done, and you won't fall under tax season crunch and miss the deadline because you're so busy with life and forget. 

The process was straightforward and with that general meeting with the tax consultant organized by the Global Learning team, I learned how to pay my taxes and what process I needed to take as an international student. 

Ayomideji Israel-Akinbo is an engineering science student from Nigeria and South Africa at Jamestown Community College in New York