[chrisabrams]

Students are not employees.

[jahewson]

In 2016 the NLRB ruled that graduate students who teach are, in fact, employees. Note that they have the right to even form a union.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/08/2...

Edit: A slight twist on this is that Temple University is a public university and and the NLRB in theory does not have jurisdiction over other parts of the government. PA law, however, offers similar protection. This is off to court for sure.

[stefan_]

These are graduate students, who generally are and that do a large part of the teaching at any university.

[thorncorona]

When I was working for my uni I got a W-2.

[thwayunion]

Yes, but if you were a grad student your W-2 almost certainly didn't include your tuition rebate as part of your total income. And the university sure as hell didn't pay taxes on it.

[selimthegrim]

You can claim it depending on your student scholarship (NSF GRF) or postdoctoral status and what it says on your 1098.

[eli_gottlieb]

I have been explicitly told by a tax accountant that I cannot. If a third party makes a payment to one of their own offices, even presuming that money exists at all to begin with, I can't claim it on my taxes as income or a credit.

[thwayunion]

The person you're responding to is correct in very specific cases like the GRFP; certain fellowships function differently.

You're correct in the case of 90+% of grad students.

[IG_Semmelweiss]

If this income is not in your W2, then this is very-murky-grey-area-danger-zone stuff.

Students and Universities both could be accused of underreporting income or tax witholdings.

I suspect there are armies of education lawyers that vetted this, but in any other industry, this is simply a no-go zone. You report what you get and what you pay as comp, cash and noncash.