GLACIER Tax Compliance System

GLACIER Nonresident Alien Tax Compliance is a system that allows Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi to collect information and make decisions regarding how much you should be paying in taxes based upon many factors that you input. If you are employed on campus, the information you input into GLACIER determines how much of your paycheck is withheld for tax payment purposes.

GLACIER is designed to collect information about an individual's immigration status, citizenship, residency and history of presence in the United States (U.S.) to determine:

• residency tax status (nonresident or resident alien for tax purposes),
• eligibility to claim a tax treaty exemption, and
• eligibility for the nonresident OASDI (Social Security) and Medicare tax exemption.

 You do NOT file your tax return through GLACIER Nonresident Alien Tax Compliance.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. government tax authority, has issued strict regulations regarding the taxation and reporting of payments made to individuals who are not citizens or U.S. permanent residents. Because US tax regulations governing such individuals are different from those governing U.S. citizens or permanent residents, it is important to be sure payments made to you are appropriately taxed and that benefits such as tax treaties are correctly applied if you are eligible for them. The GLACIER Online Tax Compliance System is an efficient and effective way to manage tax liability and is much easier for you to use than the previously used paper forms.

Employees will receive an email notifying them when they need to create a Glacier record. The email will provide a link which will provide them with the access information to log in to the GLACIER website. 

Upon initial log in to GLACIER, employees will receive a second step verification email and must click the hyperlink to return to GLACIER where they will be prompted to create a new User ID and password. Employees need to use this User ID and password in the future to renew their tax treaty or change other information entered in GLACIER.

After employees provide the required information to complete their record, Glacier will provide the following forms:

•  Tax Summary - This form summarizes all relevant information about residency, status change dates, OASDI and Medicare exemption, and tax treaty exemption.
• W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate
• 8233, Exemption From Withholding on Compensation for Independent (and Certain Dependent) Personal Services of a Nonresident Alien Individual – Only employees that are eligible to claim a tax treaty will be provided this form, along with any relevant treaty attachments.
• W-9, Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification – Only resident aliens claiming a tax treaty will be provided with this form for their first year in that status. (The signature required of a “U.S. person” in the Certification section of this form includes resident aliens.)

 All Glacier generated forms must be printed, signed, and submitted to Payroll Services along with copies of immigration documents, as indicated on the Tax Summary.

Acceptable delivery methods are as follows:

For faster processing please use the preferred method of electronic delivery.

Electronic Delivery:

In-Person Delivery:

U.S. Mail:

• Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

• Upon submission of the Glacier forms, employees' statuses will be reviewed and updated by Payroll Services so that the correct tax calculation and exemptions will be applied to the employee’s payroll payments.

After submission of GLACIER paperwork, for any subsequent employment-related changes, employees should log in to GLACIER to update their records and re-submit paperwork.

The following changes require updates to GLACIER:

• receipt of SSN,
• immigration status change,
• change in expected departure, and
• change in email address.

Providing updated GLACIER forms immediately will allow Payroll Services to make necessary changes to comply with the federal nonresident tax laws.

Foreign nationals can access GLACIER 24 hours a day, seven days a week from any web-accessed computer anywhere in the world.  Each page of the GLACIER Online Tax Compliance System has a link in the bottom right corner where you can access Online Help.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi faculty and staff aim to serve and provide outstanding service to students, faculty, and staff. However, no staff member at the university is authorized to provide any tax advice and we encourage all students, faculty or staff with questions about taxes to consult a certified tax professional as we are prohibited from providing such advice.

Publication 519 (2024), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens | Internal Revenue Service ← FAQs regarding US Taxes.

International taxpayers | Internal Revenue Service ← Helpful video.

Taxation of nonresident aliens | Internal Revenue Service  ← Helpful for determining which forms to file with the IRS and how to file.