taxes for international students in US

If you get money using paypal, is there a need to pay taxes. A fren of mine is a student in US and he was wondering if there would be any problems with taxes if he earned money using paypal. He is not a citizen of US but an international student who currently resides in US for studies.

 

If it was over $400 and he resides in the US and earned the money while in the US, yes he will probably owe US taxes on it.

 

Legally speaking, you do not need to be a citizen of the US to pay taxes there. As long as you are a tax resident, ie spend more than 180 days in that country to qualify to pay taxes.

 

if i earn 1500$ mothly for web development freelance work and take the payments over paypal then need to pay the tax ?

currently i do not have a tax file, i live with my parents i just over 18+ few moths ago.

when need to pay the tax in US for paypal earnings. . .. ..

me4you.

 

The US has one of the most annoying and complicated tax systems in the world for foreign nationals. Having said that, I know of very US citizens who pay tax on Paypal earnings. I'm not saying he shouldn't but unless he's earning a hell of a lot, it shouldn't be much of a problem.

 

You would only need to pay US tax if you are in the US and considered a tax resident. If you are not in the US, you just pay tax in the country in which you are living in.

Who you live with does not affect whether you need to pay tax or not. If you are in India then you will need to file your tax returns in India. It all depends on where you are physically residing when you earn the money and does not matter where your money is.

So whether you withdraw all your income to your local bank account or spending it or keeping it in Paypal does not make a difference. Income tax depends on the income you make and it is not a withdrawal tax.

 

thanx for the info, it was helpful.

 

Actually, if you earn income in the US you pay taxes to US on that US source income. It doesn't matter if you're resident in US...

And if you happen to be a US citizen or a permanent resident (or you are classified as a permanent resident because you're in the US so much...) then you owe the US tax on your worldwide income.

 

I should point out that I actually do a bit of international tax work... Not that anyone else here is winging it, but I'm not winging it. I do taxes for a bunch of Canadians and Irish nationals with US source income, etc...