*If you are from Germany you may exempt earned income from federal taxation only if your stay as a student in the U.S. lasts less than four years; if it lasts longer than four years the earned income exemption is lost retroactively to your day of arrival in the U.S.; in this case only the exemption for scholarship and fellowship income remains (from IRS Publication 901: U.S. Tax Treaties). http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p901.pdf

**If you are from Russia you may no longer claim the provisions of the treaty between the U.S. and the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). You may claim the provisions of the CIS treaty for 2004 if you are from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan (from IRS Publication 901: U.S. Tax Treaties). Remember: scholarships ONLY, no employment allowed .

*** Hong Kong , Taiwan or Macau: may not claim the provisions of the treaty between the U.S. and China .

In addition, the five countries listed below have tax treaties with the United States that include provisions that can benefit students in the year of arrival or year of departure from the U.S. The notation in the "Maximum Presence" column indicates the maximum number of days you can be in the U.S. in the calendar year and still claim the treaty benefit; the notation in the "Maximum Amount" column indicates the maximum amount that you can earn and still claim the treaty benefit. If you are from Greece , for example, you can exempt a U.S. wage from federal taxation if you were in the U.S. for no more than 183 days in 2004 and earned less than $10,000 from a U.S. employer.

Remember, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service considers an eligible scholarship to be any tuition or financial award that does NOT require employment. Allowed scholarships at U of M include athletics and music scholarships, and very little else. G.A's, assistantships, CPT, OPT and student worker jobs do NOT receive this tax break – they are all considered EMPLOYMENT.

In a few rare cases, the tuition waiver part of a Teaching Assistantship or a Research Assistantship is protected from federal tax, but this is a rare exception, and not the norm.