getting taxed in the good old US or A

OmegaRed

Lo all,

Just wondering has anyone worked in the US before on a J1 visa and knows the proper taxing system?

I'm here since the start of April till the end of September. I was allowed to keep everything I earned till i hit $8,000 and now I'm getting taxed, ALLOT!

There are loads of us over here and speaking to other people in my class. Some people are paying loads, some people are paying nothing and others are just paying one set of tax.

There are 4 types. Medi care, Social Security, Federal and state tax.

I'm only paying Federal and State but its still working out to be a hell of allot of tax. about 250 - 300 ever 2 weeks.

Can anyone shine some light on this?

I know people who have said to there company "I'm a J1 student and here is my visa, I only have to pay State tax" the company say ok and only take state tax out of their wage.

When I said it to my company they said I had to provide information from the government or IRS showing it says I dont have to pay federal tax.

Its all so confusing and mean. They are taken me money

But seriously, anyone know the correct situation?

Saruman

Not sure but you CAN claim back from the Irish revenue when you come home

Ruu_Old

Maybe this will be of some help. It looks like you will be able to claim (if not all of it back). Im not 100% sure on this one.

1. When do I have to do file tax forms?
In general, April 15 is the deadline to file income tax returns if you had U.S. source income for the previous year. All nonresident alien students and scholars, must also file IRS Form 8843 by June 15 - regardless of whether or not they had U.S. source income in the previous year.

EDIT: Also have a look at taxback.com, select tax information and enter your details in there and it will give you some answers, hopefully that will sort you out.

dave2pvd

Tell your employer you want to change your state & federal withholdings. Basically, you will be claiming more dependants than you actually have. This is legal, as long as you file your tax return truthfully at taxtime.

Right now, they have you down for minimal withholdings (1? or 2 maybe?). Claim something very high, like 12. Your employer may look at you funny, but just explain that you're not working a full year, therefore you're trying to not have a year's worth of tax deducted.

Don't do what so many J1ers do and not bother with filing your tax return in April. It's very easy in your case. Unless there's some new type of student-visa only form (doubt it), you'll need to fill out the 1 page 1040EZ. Why should you bother? Because you'll get money back. That's legally yours.

dermot_sheehan

dave2pvd wrote:

Tell your employer you want to change your state & federal withholdings. Basically, you will be claiming more dependants than you actually have. This is legal, as long as you file your tax return truthfully at taxtime.

Right now, they have you down for minimal withholdings (1? or 2 maybe?). Claim something very high, like 12. Your employer may look at you funny, but just explain that you're not working a full year, therefore you're trying to not have a year's worth of tax deducted.

Don't do what so many J1ers do and not bother with filing your tax return in April. It's very easy in your case. Unless there's some new type of student-visa only form (doubt it), you'll need to fill out the 1 page 1040EZ. Why should you bother? Because you'll get money back. That's legally yours.

Actually you file a 1040NR-EZ, NR for non-resident.

Basically if you want your money now and not next year file a new w-2 i think it is, claiming more dependents.

dave2pvd

gabhain7 wrote:

Actually you file a 1040NR-EZ, NR for non-resident.

Basically if you want your money now and not next year file a new w-2 i think it is, claiming more dependents.

Thanks for the clarification. It's been a while...

Not sure if the W2 applies to State tax though. Federal only, no?

Check: www.irs.gov It's actually relatively user-friendly.

Our man in Havana

W-2 is also applicable to state taxes where they apply.

As for claiming 12, no employer would let you away with that.

dave2pvd

Here's the link for all things tax for non-resident aliens: http://www.irs.gov/publications/p515/index.html