I deal with university reimbursements all the time as a graduate student, and everyone here is spot on about the W9 being standard procedure. What I'd add is that you should also ask the university for a receipt or confirmation email once they process your reimbursement - not just for your records, but because it usually states clearly that this was an "expense reimbursement" rather than "payment for services." This documentation can be super helpful if you ever need to prove to the IRS (unlikely, but just in case) that this wasn't taxable income. I keep a folder with all my reimbursement confirmations, and my accountant always appreciates having that clear paper trail showing the difference between actual income and expense reimbursements. Also, don't be surprised if it takes 2-4 weeks for them to cut the check - university accounting departments move at their own pace, but the W9 requirement usually means they're taking it seriously and following proper procedures.

I'm a financial aid officer at a mid-size university, and I can confirm everything everyone has said here is correct. The W9 requirement for ANY individual payment is standard across most institutions, regardless of amount. It's really just about having proper taxpayer identification on file for our accounting systems. What you're describing - buying supplies for a university event and getting reimbursed - falls under what we call an "accountable plan" reimbursement. Since you have receipts, the expenses were for legitimate university business, and you're only getting back exactly what you spent, this is definitely not taxable income to you. The $600 threshold people mention is for when we're required to issue 1099 forms for payments to contractors or vendors, but that doesn't apply to expense reimbursements like yours. Even if we did issue a 1099 by mistake (which happens occasionally), having your receipts proving it was a reimbursement would protect you. Just fill out the W9, attach your receipts, and you should have your $75 back within a few weeks. And definitely keep copies of everything for your records - it's always good practice with university financial transactions!

Just a practical tip - make sure to check if your employer reported this correctly on your W-2. Look at Box 1 (wages/tips/compensation) and compare it to Box 5 (Medicare wages). If there's a big difference, they might have messed up the reporting. My company did this wrong last year and included my entire tuition benefit as taxable income without applying the $5,250 exemption. I had to request a corrected W-2 (called a W-2c). Took a while but saved me over $1,100 in taxes.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm in a similar situation with my employer-funded graduate program. One thing I'd add is that you should also check your December pay stub carefully to see if they withheld any federal or state taxes on that $24k tuition payment. When my employer added my tuition as taxable income, they initially forgot to withhold taxes on it, which meant I would have owed a huge amount at filing time. I caught it and asked payroll to adjust my withholding for the remaining pay periods to cover the additional tax liability. This way I avoided both underpayment penalties and a massive tax bill in April. If they didn't withhold enough taxes on that phantom income, you might want to make estimated tax payments for Q1 2025 to avoid penalties, especially if this pattern will continue with future semesters.

Anyone else notice that Form 8802 processing times seem to vary depending on the country you're requesting the Form 6166 for? I've had Germany ones come back in 3 weeks while China ones took nearly 9 weeks.

This is really helpful information from everyone! As someone new to handling Form 8802, I'm taking notes on all these tips. The 4-6 week standard timeframe seems consistent with what others are saying, and I'll definitely keep the expedited processing option in mind for future clients who have urgent deadlines. @Dmitry - for your current situation, it sounds like you'll need to manage your client's expectations and let them know it's likely going to be at least a month. Maybe explain that this is standard IRS processing time and not something you can control. I've found that being upfront about government processing delays usually helps clients understand it's not a reflection of your service. The tools mentioned here like taxr.ai and Claimyr sound interesting for future reference, especially if you regularly handle international tax forms. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences!

Just wanted to add a helpful tip for anyone dealing with multiple Form 8949 pages - make sure you're using the correct version of the form! I made the mistake last year of downloading an outdated version from a random website and didn't realize until I was halfway through entering all my transactions. The IRS website always has the current year's forms, and they sometimes make small changes to the layout or instructions that can affect how you handle the subtotals. Also, if you're e-filing, your tax software should automatically use the correct version, but it's worth double-checking if you're preparing paper forms. Another thing I learned the hard way - if you have both short-term and long-term transactions, you'll need separate sets of Form 8949 pages for each (Part I for short-term, Part II for long-term). Each set gets its own subtotals that then go to different sections of Schedule D. Don't mix them on the same pages or your totals will be wrong!

Great question! I went through this exact same situation last year with tons of day trading transactions. You definitely want to subtotal each individual page - don't leave any pages blank or try to carry running totals forward. Here's what worked for me: Page 1 gets its subtotal, Page 2 gets its subtotal, etc. Then on Schedule D, you add up all those individual page subtotals to get your final amount. The key thing people miss is checking that "continuation sheet" box on pages 2-4 (it's usually right at the top of the form). One thing that really helped me was organizing my transactions by date before filling out the forms - it made it much easier to catch any mistakes when double-checking my math. And if you're doing this by hand, definitely use a calculator for those subtotals. Small addition errors can throw off your entire return! The IRS processing system is designed to handle each Form 8949 page independently, so as long as each page has its own correct subtotal and the continuation boxes are checked properly, you should be good to go.

Has anyone used TurboTax or H&R Block software for reporting foreign pensions? I'm wondering if they handle these situations well or if I need something more specialized.

I'm dealing with a similar situation with my Italian disability pension, and after reading through all these responses, I wanted to share what I learned from my tax attorney. The key thing that many people miss is that disability pensions from workplace injuries often have different treaty treatment than regular retirement pensions. Since your pension is classified as "rente d'invalidité professionnelle" (work-related disability), you'll likely need to use Form 8833 to claim treaty benefits under Article 18 of the US-France tax treaty. What I found helpful was getting the official French documentation that clearly states the nature and classification of your pension payments. The IRS will want to see that it's specifically a work-related disability benefit, not just a general pension. Also, definitely don't overlook the FBAR filing if your French accounts exceed $10,000. The penalties are no joke - I learned that the hard way when I missed filing for two years and had to go through the voluntary disclosure process. One more tip: keep detailed records of all French taxes paid on this income. You'll need those exact amounts for Form 1116 if any portion ends up being taxable in the US after applying treaty provisions.