Au pairs who earned more than $3,950 in 2014 are responsible to file a federal tax return and pay an income tax.

Au Pair in America is not responsible for the interpretation of the information within this document, or any changes to IRS rules or forms that may occur. Neither Au Pair in America, nor its community counselors, can provide any official tax information, and we recommend that you contact a tax professional if you have any specific questions regarding these matters.

Taxes for income earned in 2014 are due to be filed on or before April 15th of this year.

Will I have to file taxes?
If you earned more than $3,950 in 2014, then yes!

When are the 2014 taxes due? 
April 15th, 2015!

How to file taxes? 
1. Get a Social Security Number or Tax ID Number: 
http://www.aupairinamerica.com/resources/life_in_the_us/procedure_4.asp
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Au-Pairs 

2. Calculate how much you have earned during 2014.

Example: You were here for 31 weeks in 2014 and earned a weekly stipend of $195.75* for those 31 weeks. Your total earnings would be 31 x $195.75 = $6068.25 = $6068. (always round up to the nearest dollar amount) . *This rate will vary based upon when you arrived in 2014 and what program you were participating in when you earned the stipend – au pair, EduCare, extraordinaire. You would then subtract the personal exemption amount for 2014, ($3,950) from your income and would get a total of $2,118. This is your taxable income.

Once you determine your taxable income, you should then check the 2014 instruction booklet http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040nre.pdf (see link above), starting on page 23 to see how much tax you owe based on your taxable income. For the amount above, your tax would be $211.

3. Fill out 1040NR-EZ form

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040nre.pdf
This is a link to instruction booklet    http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040nre.pdf

Below are some helpful tips for filling out the 2014 tax form.

1. Enter the total amount you earned in 2014 on line 3, line 7, line 10 and line 12. This would be your weekly stipend multiplied by the number of weeks you were in the U.S. in 2014 and were paid the weekly stipend.
2. You should not have any itemized deductions, so the amount entered on line 11 would be ‘0’.
3. Enter the 2014 exemption amount of $3,950 on line 13.
4. Subtract the exemption amount ($3,950) from your income reported on line 12 and put on line 14. This is your taxable income.
5. Look up the taxable income amount in the tax tables which are included in the instructions (starting on page 23) to see the amount you will owe in taxes. Put this amount on line 15, line 17 and line 25 of form 1040NR-EZ. This would be the amount that you will pay to the IRS.
6. Don’t forget to sign the form at the bottom. – the form is not valid without your signature!
7. You must fill out the other side of the form (page 2)
8. Put your home country on line A
9. Lines C,D, and F should all say ‘no’
10. For section E put ‘J-1’
11. In section G, you should start with your arrival date in the U.S. (in 2013) and list any dates that you left the country for any trips (either your own vacation or your host family’s vacation). Then add up all the days that you were in the U.S. during 2014 and enter this number in section H.
12. If you filed a tax return in the previous year, answer ‘yes’ on line I and put the form number you filed (probably 1040-NR-EZ 2013)

If you have any questions, you can call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040
Filing a tax return and payments: Whether you are filing your taxes from the U.S. or back in
your home country, all tax returns and checks should be mailed to:

Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 1303
Charlotte, NC 28201 – 1303
U.S.A.

Can I mail my form and pay online?
YES — via….Debit card (flat rate less than $3) or Credit card (@ 1.87% of total tax amount) http://www.irs.gov/uac/Electronic-Payment-Options-Home-Page (NB: you still have to mail in your forms).