International Services for Students and Scholars (ISSS)

ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER

Serving the International Students/Scholars at Rensselaer

Volume 13, Issue 2 Date: February 4, 2004


Table of contents:

Tax Seminar
American Slang
Driving Tips


Tax Seminar

The International Students Office will be holding a tax workshop for international students on Monday, March 15, 2004, from 6:00pm-8:00pm in DCC 318. An officer from the IRS will be explaining the different forms that students must fill out, she will also answer questions you have regarding taxes. Whether you work or not, it is recommended that you attend if you have never filed taxes before.

Remember, if you have never worked you still must fill out Form 8843.
When attending this workshop, you should bring the following items:
• W-2 form (if you received it in the mail)
• 1042-S form (if you received it in the mail)

The forms 1040NR-EZ and 8843 will be provided in the workshop.
If you have worked and received money in the year 2003, then your taxes must be post-marked by April 15, 2004.
If you have not worked and not received any money you must fill out Form 8843 and it must be post-marked by June 15, 2004.

Staff in the ISSS Office are not able to answer questions regarding Taxes.


American Slang

“Chill” Used in a sentence, “Chill man, everything is ok”. Chill in this sentence means relax, don’t worry.
Road Spray – when you are driving your car water, snow, or slush can be sprayed on your windshield from other cars. This spray can be very light or the spray can be heavy almost like someone threw snow on your windshield. This is called Road Spray.


Driving Tips

The weather has been extremely cold and your car feels it also. Do not let your gas tank get below ½ full. If you let the gas get to low the following could happen:

• A snow storm comes and you have to get gas. It is always uncomfortable to get gas in a snow storm. Driving is bad and all you want to do is get home.
• If your gas reserve is too low you could have trouble starting your car. You could also have fuel line freeze up.
• Traffic is moving very slowly and your gas tank is low and you worry that you won’t have enough gas to get too a gas station.

Remember Gas stations do close so for all you graduate students leaving your labs in the middle of the night, fill your gas tank on the way to school.

Road Spray – driving in this morning there was a lot of road spray. I had to keep cleaning my windshield so I could see. It is important to make sure the windshield cleaner reservoir in your car is full. Remember you should not put plain water in it because in this weather it will freeze. You can buy special windshield cleaner at places like gas stations, Wal-Mart, Price Chopper. It is important to keep your windshield clean because if you are driving at night it can be very difficult to see people walking because most people have dark coats on. If your windshield is dirty it will be harder to see people walking or other cars