DCSSA Election 2005

Dear Community Members,

It's that time of year again! As one of the oversightcommittee members, I am responsible for organizing theelection of the next year's DCSSA members, includingone president and three oversight committee members.
Those of you who are interested in running for nextyear's president of DCSSA and oversight committeemember, please send your 1. personal profile (name,address, phone numbers, major, department, which year,etc) and 2. your written statements, to"qiang.ye@duke.edu".The deadling is 5:00pm March, 20, 2005.

Allcandidates' information will be listed on the DCSSAhomepage on March 21, 2005 and the voting will startat the beginning of April.
Thank you very much and have a nice spring break!
Qiang Ye
Na Li
Xuyang Sun
DCSSA Oversight Committee

Tax Workshops

Hi everyone,

Hope you are enjoying the semester so far. It is time to get ready for another tax season. You should have received W2 forms (3 copies) from the payroll office and 1042S forms(2 copies) will be on its way by Mar. 15. If you need help filing your individual tax return forms, here is some information.

There will be a Tax Workshop for international students sponsored by International House.
(Mar. 22, 7-9pm, @ Social Sciences RM 139) This is a general workshop for all international students, you can get some important information and useful handouts.

DCSSA will be sponsoring a Tax Workshop tailored for Chinese students and scholars.
(Mar. 31, 7-9pm @ Teer Building RM 203)
Presenter: Fang Liu, Law School, Duke University
On this session, find out: -- what kind of forms to file ( federal, state, and 8843)
-- where to get the forms (student center, I-house, web...)
-- how to fill out the forms (line by line instruction)
-- RA/TA stipend and tuition awards, and graduate fellowships
-- Resident Alien vs. Non-resident
-- F/J
-- single / married
-- where to send the forms (mailing address for each kind of form)
-- what to attach (1042S or W2 or both)
-- things to watch out for
-- get general / specific questions answered

Note for new students who have never filed tax return before: ALL STUDENTS AND THEIR DEPENDENTS MUST FILE TAX FORMS. Do not panic if you have no idea about what is going on, DCSSA is here to help you out. Also it is a good time to bother you mentor and other senior Chinese students. The tax return deadline is Apr. 15 every year. It is always better to get things done before that rather than rush on the very last day.
Useful links:
http://www.treasury.duke.edu/tax/student/foreign.html
http://www.irs.gov

Good luck with your study and have a great break,
Tong