NRA Tax Office - US Taxes - Income and Tax Withholding - Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate

U.S. Taxes - Income & Tax Withholding

Form W-4/MW 507 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate

Towson University uses a modified Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate that combines the federal Form W-4 and the state of Maryland Form MW 507 into one document.
New Towson University employees complete Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate Form W-4/MW 507 in the Office of Human Resources (OHR) during Employment Eligibility Verification (also called I-9 processing).
The NRA Tax Office reviews and approves all Forms W-4/MW 507 for new hires who are not U.S. citizens or Permanent Resident Aliens. This includes reviewing tax residency status and tax treaty exemptions.
A Nonresident Alien for tax purposes MUST indicate the following on Form W-4/MW 507 for Federal tax.

Line Number	Required Status	Comments
Line 3 – Marital Status	Single	Regardless of actual marital status
Line 5 – Withholding Allowances	1	Regardless of actual number of dependents In certain cases, individuals from Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and students from India may be eligible for additional withholding allowances.
Line 6 – Additional Amount	Write Nonresident Alien under Federal on Line 6 on Form W-4/MW507	Per bi-weekly pay period The IRS specifies an additional "non-cash" withholding amount to be added to the total wages by pay cycle frequency. The additional tax-withholding amount per bi-weekly pay period offsets the standard deduction, which NRAs are generally not eligible to claim. See IRS Publication 519 U. S. Tax Guide for Aliens.
Line 7 - NRAs are NOT permitted to claim “EXEMPT” for Federal tax withholding.

When an NRA’s tax residency changes to Resident Alien, the NRA Tax Office will notify that individual of the opportunity to prepare a revised Form W-4/MW 507.
U.S. citizens, Permanent Resident Aliens and Resident Aliens for tax purposes should follow the instructions on Form W-4/MW 507. They are able to choose the number of allowances to claim.
There is no mandatory State of Maryland withholding requirement for NRAs.

*Other employers may have different procedures than the ones described here.