The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) certified the federal income tax exempt status of the Board of Trustees for the University of Alabama, a body corporate. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a division of this corporate body. A letter from the IRS dated June 17, 1974 affirmed this classification.

This letter is often referred to as a 501(c)(3) letter or IRS Determination Letter and may be requested by outside entities to confirm the federal income tax exempt status of UAB.

UAB was issued a tax identification number (TIN) from the IRS. The number is 63-6005396. This number may also be referred to as an employer identification number (EIN). The UAB TIN may only be used for official UAB business activities. When using the UAB TIN, the official name must be used as well. The legal name associated with the TIN is University of Alabama at Birmingham.

UAB vendors may request a copy of UAB's Form W-9 in order to satisfy the IRS requirement of Name/TIN matching.

Entities associated with UAB (e.g. UAB Educational Foundation, UAB Health Services Foundation, UAB Health System, UAB Highlands Hospital, UAB Research Foundation, etc.) should be contacted directly for Form W-9 requests.

Educational institutions are required to file a Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, with the IRS and to provide a copy of the form to the student, for each enrolled student for whom there is a reportable transaction. A reportable transaction includes payments received, amounts billed or refunds made for tuition and related expenses.

In order to provide a Form 1098-T for tax purposes, the Internal Revenue Service requires that students provide their Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) to their school. Students who fail to provide a SSN or ITIN to their school can be subject to a $50.00 fine by the IRS.

• International students are NOT automatically generated a 1098-T tax form. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not require UAB to file a Form 1098-T for nonresident aliens. This is because nonresident alien students are not eligible for education tax benefits. Since UAB cannot determine which foreign students are residents for tax purposes, Student Accounting Services will create a manual form per request.
• For students who have a SSN or ITIN and just need to update their file with UAB they should visit One Stop Student Services in person. They should remember to bring their Social Security Card.

Student Accounting Services manages the 1098-T process for UAB.

The Form 1099-MISC is used to report miscellaneous income for individuals and companies who have been paid $600 or more in non-employee service payments during a calendar year. The exception to this is royalty payments of $10 or more must be reported.

Please note that amounts for wages and other compensation paid to an employee are NOT reported on a Form 1099-MISC. These amounts are reported on a Form W-2.

The Controller’s Office manages the 1099-MISC process for UAB.

A W-2 form is a wage and tax statement used to report wages paid and the taxes withheld from those wages for a given calendar year. A copy of this form is given to the employee, the IRS and the state taxing authority (if applicable) each January for the prior calendar (tax) year.

Payroll Services manages the W-2 process for UAB.

For matters related to the 1042-S form, please contact International Student and Scholar Services.

UBI Tax

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) certified the federal income tax exempt status of the Board of Trustees for the University of Alabama, a body corporate. The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a division of this corporate body. The Internal Revenue Code provides that the exempt purposes of state colleges and universities include charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, educational, to foster national or international amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals. The University is not, however, exempt from tax imposed by Code Sections 511, 512 and 513 on activities which are unrelated to those exempt purposes and must file Form 990-T on gross income from an unrelated trade or business of $1,000 or more. Therefore, each activity must be scrutinized to determine whether an exempt purpose is also being served.

Three elements must be present for an activity to be considered unrelated to the University’s tax-exempt purposes:

1. the activity must be a “trade or business,”
2. it must be regularly carried on, and
3. it must not be substantially related to the University’s exempt purposes.

Property Tax

As a public university created by the Constitution of the State of Alabama, UAB is also treated as a state governmental entity. As a governmental entity of the State of Alabama, all property owned by UAB is state property. Therefore, real estate owned by UAB located in the State of Alabama is exempt from property taxes imposed by the State of Alabama or by Alabama counties and cities.

Lodging Tax

The Alabama lodging tax law does not contain any exemption for governmental entities. Therefore, UAB must pay state lodging taxes at hotels or other lodging facilities required by the state to collect lodging taxes.

Lease or Rental Tax

Rental or lease tax associated with the leasing or rental of tangible personal property are generally the responsibility of the lessor, not the lessee. However, some vendors leasing tangible personal property to UAB choose to pass on the associated rental tax (sometimes known as lease tax) to UAB as the lessee.

These taxes may be incorporated into the rental rate or may be separately designated. If UAB is contractually obligated to pay the rental of lease tax, they should be accounted for as additional rent expense.