Specific payroll requirements apply to recipients of funds from Washington University in St. Louis. These requirements apply if you are receiving funds of any kind from WashU, including, but not limited to, salary, stipends, fellowships, and assistantships.

Workday Information Entry and I-9 Completion

Once you’ve been hired to work at WashU, or you’ve been approved to receive any form of funding from WashU in a non-employee role, your hiring department or your Department HR Partner will enter your information in Workday, WashU’s integrated administrative system for human resources and finance. You will be prompted to complete most of the required onboarding steps in Workday. For employees, an overview of the process can be found on WashU’s page.

If you are required to complete Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, both Sections 1 and 2 of the I-9 Form must be completed before you can be prompted to provide tax-related data. Please, note that you must meet with a member of the I-9 team in order to complete Section 2 of the I-9.

Foreign National Information System (FNIS)

All foreign nationals who receive funding from WashU must complete information in the Foreign National Information System (FNIS). FNIS is a data collection tool that enables the University to gather important immigration status and history information, which is then used to determine a foreign national’s tax residency status and any applicable tax treaty benefits.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires WashU to apply U.S. withholding and reporting rules consistent with your U.S. tax status as a resident alien or nonresident alien for tax purposes. Resident aliens are taxed like U.S. citizens, while nonresident aliens are taxed under different withholding and reporting rules. Your U.S. tax status depends on your U.S. immigration status and U.S. presence. You may also be entitled to tax exemptions, applicable tax treaty, or both, depending on your U.S. tax status.

It is very important that you provide accurate information in FNIS because your tax status and tax treaty benefits are determined based on this data. We also ask that you review and update FNIS information at least once a year in order to ensure correct tax withholdings. If you travel outside the U.S. while receiving funding from WashU, we advise that you update FNIS upon re-entry into the U.S. because your U.S. presence may change the way you are taxed.

If we do not receive initial or updated information from you via FNIS, the University cannot provide you with tax exemptions that may otherwise apply. These include Social Security, federal, or state taxes, which may be withheld from any payments you receive.

Please, refer to the Foreign National Information System (FNIS) Instructions for a detailed guide on how to complete your FNIS account.

Tax Forms

After OISS approves your FNIS data entry, it will be forwarded to Payroll Services. An email notification will be sent to you at this time. Payroll Services will conduct a tax analysis and inform you of the results via email within about one week of the approval. The email will provide further instructions on how you can access the tax analysis summary and any applicable tax forms via FNIS. Be sure to read all the instructions contained in the email.

Please note that you must sign and return any applicable tax forms to Payroll Services in order to be taxed correctly. Failure to return the forms in a timely manner may result in a higher tax rate.

Tax Return: End of Year Filing

All foreign national employees and non-employees are also required to file a year-end tax return, regardless of whether income was received. Tax returns are filed at the beginning of the calendar year for the previous year and the filing deadline is usually set for the middle of April of each year.

Updating Your FNIS Account

OISS and Payroll Services highly recommend that you review your FNIS account and make necessary updates once a year or every time you travel outside the U.S.

If you extend or change your current immigration status while in the U.S. and under WashU sponsorship, OISS will update your status in FNIS, and no further action will be required from you. If you are not sponsored by WashU and you extend your status beyond the initial expiration date indicated in FNIS, please email OISS at oiss@wustl.edu to notify us of the change. We will provide you with further instructions on how to update your FNIS information and OISS record.