What is Glacier?
The University of Texas at Austin uses a third party system, Glacier, provided by Arctic International, LLC, to assist with nonresident alien tax compliance.
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.
Glacier Record Creation
All non-U.S. citizens (excluding most permanent residents, DACA recipients, and asylees) receiving payments from UT are required to use Glacier. Employees who need to create a Glacier record will be programmatically identified based on their I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) or self-reported citizenship status.
Individuals identified as needing a Glacier record will receive an email notifying them of this requirement. The email will provide a link to a UT Secure Message which will provide them with the access information to log in to the Glacier website. A permanent U.S. Social Security Number is not required for an individual to complete their Glacier record.
Initial Log in to Glacier
Upon initial log in to Glacier, the individual 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. The individual will need this User ID and password in the future to renew their tax treaty, change other information entered in Glacier, etc.
Glacier Record
After an individual provides the required information to complete their record, Glacier will generate all forms necessary.
All Glacier generated forms must be signed and submitted to Tax Services along with copies of the immigration documents indicated on the Tax Summary Report page. Forms should not be sent via email, as they contain sensitive data. Glacier documents can be submitted online through this secure Qualtrics link.
Upon submission, the individual's forms will be reviewed and statuses will be updated as needed by Tax Services so that the correct tax calculation and exemptions will be applied to the individual’s payments. Any tax treaty documents (Form 8233 and attachments) will be submitted to the IRS after approval by Tax Services.
Updating Glacier
After submission of Glacier paperwork, individuals should log in to Glacier to update their records and re-submit paperwork for any subsequent changes. The following changes require updates to Glacier:
- receipt of SSN
- immigration status change
- change in expected departure
- change in email address
Providing updated Glacier forms immediately will allow Tax Services to make necessary changes to comply with federal nonresident tax laws.
Annual Renewals
Each year, all employees who are eligible to continue claiming a tax treaty exemption in the upcoming tax year are required to submit a new Form 8233 and tax treaty attachments, as well as an updated Tax Summary. Emails to the impacted employees will be sent by Tax Services in November, notifying them to log back in to Glacier to update their records and print new forms for the upcoming year.
Annual Tax Filing
Individuals who claimed a tax treaty will receive a 1042-S Form reporting the amount of exempted income. Employees may also receive a W-2 Form reporting any wage income over the tax treaty limit that was not exempt. Both forms are used when filing a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Nonresidents can utilize the tax filing assistance program offered by Texas Global to prepare their tax return. For assistance, please contact Texas Global.
Special Circumstances
The Glacier system works primarily by communicating via email. If an individual does not have an email address or needs assistance in creating a record, the individual's departmental representative should contact Tax Services.