Entering foreign fellowship

[boba5555]

Dear all,

I am a resident alien on J1 visa. Last year I received a foreign fellowship. That fellowship was transferred directly to my private account.

Do you know where in TurboTax I should report this fellowship? It is a special type of income, so not sure where is the right place to state it.

Thank you.

Best regards,

[pk]

@boba5555  when did you enter the USA on J visa   ( as a student  / trainee or researcher/ teacher  ?)?  Which country are you from ?  Is the  fellowship from your country of citizenship or  what ?  Tax treaty  may have something to say on this.  Please tell more about your situation

[boba5555]

@pk: Sure, thank you for asking.

I came to the US in September 2018, although visited for a couple of months on J1 visa in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The fellowship  is from Switzerland, but my citizenship is Serbian. So, the fellowship is not from the country of my citizenship.

Regarding the type of J1 visa, my DS2019 says "Research scholar".

Best regards,

[pk]

@boba5555 , since there is no tax treaty between  Serbia and the USA, your scholarship / stipend would be viewed as income -- same as for US persons.  So treating you as resident alien for tax purposes, you report the  scholarship  as income and pay taxes  on it.  Under educational  expenses, you should be able to show the income as scholarship and any expenses paid to the school may be deductible.    If there are no educational expenses  then you just show the income as "other" income and  on the comments line say this is fellowship from Switzerland.

If you need more help on this, feel welcome to  add more questions here and I will come back and answer 

[boba5555]

@pk, thank you for the explanation.

I am using TurboTax to file my taxes. I cannot figure out where to enter this "Other income". Please let me know if this forum is not the right place to ask about TurboTax. If it is, I am providing more details below.

TurboTax gives me option to report "Other 1099-G Income". However, I don't have 1099-G form, so it seems that this option does not apply to me.

Also, there is part "Less Common Income" -- "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion". When I go there, it asks me whether I made any money outside the US. When I choose "No", it gets me back to the main menu. I am assuming that "No" is the right answer here as I didn't work outside the US. 🙂

I would appreciate if you have an advice of what to select in TurboTax. I have no form mentioning this fellowship, it is visible only on my bank statement.

Thank you.

With kind regards,

[pk · Accepted solution]

@boba5555 , it is bit contorted but ...

while in your return  click the search box and enter " other reportable income", from the  drop down list  click " jump to other reportable income",  next screen  --> " Other wages  Received", choose  "No "  and continue-->  next screen "other reportable income" at the bottom --> Next Screen choose" Yes" -->  follow through for the next few screens and you should be done.

[boba5555]

Thanks a lot, @pk! I have managed to enter the information by following your suggestions. 🙂

Best regards,