J1 taxback

bigmick1

I was in New York for the summer of 2012. Does anyone know the full story with claiming taxback? I have my last pay check, social security number and all that jazz but do you have to wait till you get the w2 form from your employer untill you can apply for taxback? Any help welcomed!

crapmanjoe

bigmick1 wrote: »

I was in New York for the summer of 2012. Does anyone know the full story with claiming taxback? I have my last pay check, social security number and all that jazz but do you have to wait till you get the w2 form from your employer untill you can apply for taxback? Any help welcomed!

yeah pretty sure you need a W2 to claim the tax back which you will get in late Jan and have to file by April 15 then

bigmick1

Right so ive got my W2 form. want to apply for it myself as I have a nice bit to get back. Anyone know how to go about this? Was in New York. Appreciate any help

ProudDUB

If you are no longer living in the US, you can file a remote tax return electronically with the IRS, from your own home, using your own computer. However, you will need the IRS compatible software on your PC before you can file your return. TurboTax is the most well known brand that US based peeps tend to buy and use. Do you know anyone over there who can loan you the disc? It's probably a waste of time for you to buy the full software kit for a once off filing.

Did you have a bank account while you were in the US? If you did, you'll be sent a refund check that you can deposit into your account, or you can choose to have it deposited directly into your bank account. Or you have it sent to you on a prepaid Visa card thingy. Be careful of taking that option. I got my last US tax refund on a pre paid Visa card, but no Irish shops/banks etc would take it.

bigmick1

No I don't know of anyone who has that. Yes I did have a bank account still do. So would taxback.ie be the best option? I have about $2000 to claim and wanted to do it myself as they charge a high fee.

spideog7

Assuming you're non-resident, you need to file a 1040-NR, the instructions for that are here. You may be able to get away with the 1040NR-EZ too, it's basically the same form but all of the lines that most people don't need are removed. Last I checked you cannot file that online, anything that can be filed online can be done for free using the IRS software and forms, you do not need any third party software (TurboTax et al).

You may also be able to reclaim your FICA taxes (if you paid them) if you're non-resident and meet the necessary criteria.

Caliden

spideog7 wrote: »

Assuming you're non-resident, you need to file a 1040-NR, the instructions for that are here. You may be able to get away with the 1040NR-EZ too, it's basically the same form but all of the lines that most people don't need are removed. Last I checked you cannot file that online, anything that can be filed online can be done for free using the IRS software and forms, you do not need any third party software (TurboTax et al).

You may also be able to reclaim your FICA taxes (if you paid them) if you're non-resident and meet the necessary criteria.

What are the necessary criteria for claiming back your FICA?

Done a bit of research yesterday and there's alot of reading.

From my understanding the 1040nr is for claiming back tax as a result of federal income tax withholdings and NOT for medicare/social security tax.

According to the IRS Publication 15 & Publication 515, 'nonresident aliens' holding a J1 visa are exempt from FICA taxes and this process involves first contacting your employer to issue you a refund and updating thier records.
Then from what I read if that fails there's another process to claim if back through the IRS but this is the part that confuses me, some of thier forms ask if the job in question was relating to your studies and if not then you can't claim back your FICA payments.

Anyone know if this is correct or if it's possible claim back your FICA taxes even if you worked in a restaurant or something?

spideog7

Caliden wrote: »

What are the necessary criteria for claiming back your FICA?

Done a bit of research yesterday and there's alot of reading.

From my understanding the 1040nr is for claiming back tax as a result of fedeal income tax withholdings and NOT for medicare/social security tax.

According to the IRS Publication 15 & Publication 515, 'nonresident aliens' holding a J1 visa are exempt from FICA taxes and this process involves first contacting your employer to issue you a refund and updating thier records.
Then from what I read if that fails there's another process to claim if back through the IRS but this is the part that confuses me, some of thier forms ask if the job in question was relating to your studies and if not then you can't claim back your FICA payments.

Anyone know if this is correct or if it's possible claim back your FICA taxes even if you worked in a restaurant or something?

I could be wrong and unfortunately don't have the time at the minute to pull references for you but if I recall if you haven't been in the US on a J1 or some visa whereby you claimed ineligibility in two of the last 6(?) calendar years then you don't have to pay those taxes and they probably shouldn't have been withheld in the first place. There are numerous online IRS resources on this if you search their .gov site.

Yes 1040NR is for federal taxes, there is either an additional form or schedule for FICA or an entirely separate application, I don't recall.

I don't believe the job matters if you're just on a regular summer J1 and not the graduate program whereby your job is supposed to pertain to your degree.

spideog7

There's zombie thread that got dug up somewhere on this but since I posted it here originally and you asked I'll post the link to the information I had.

To be eligible for a refund of any FICA taxes you paid (or if you prefer to be eligible to not pay them in the first place) you must be on an F-1, J-1, M-1 or Q visa and be filing as a non-resident.

The residency rules are explained in the substantial presence test. With the exception that J1 students are typically exempt from counting the days they are present here unless they meet the criteria outlined below:

But there's an exception to the exception...

You will not be an exempt individual as a teacher or trainee if you were exempt as a teacher, trainee, or student for any part of 2 of the 6 preceding calendar years

From here

The year long graduate J1 is a Trainee visa, so if you were in the US on a summer J1 in 2011 and then you went back on a graduate J1 in 2012 and it ran over into this year you likely would no longer be a non-resident alien in 2013 so you'd have to pay FICA. Note this is the case even if you did not earn income on your summer J1. The tax tables for both residents and non-residents are basically the same though so it won't actually make much difference other than the SS/Medicare.

Caliden

spideog7 wrote: »

There's zombie thread that got dug up somewhere on this but since I posted it here originally and you asked I'll post the link to the information I had.

To be eligible for a refund of any FICA taxes you paid (or if you prefer to be eligible to not pay them in the first place) you must be on an F-1, J-1, M-1 or Q visa and be filing as a non-resident.

The residency rules are explained in the substantial presence test. With the exception that J1 students are typically exempt from counting the days they are present here unless they meet the criteria outlined below:

But there's an exception to the exception...


From here

The year long graduate J1 is a Trainee visa, so if you were in the US on a summer J1 in 2011 and then you went back on a graduate J1 in 2012 and it ran over into this year you likely would no longer be a non-resident alien in 2013 so you'd have to pay FICA. Note this is the case even if you did not earn income on your summer J1. The tax tables for both residents and non-residents are basically the same though so it won't actually make much difference other than the SS/Medicare.

So if I went on a J1 for Summer 2011 (June-Aug) and went back on a 12 month J1 graduate (Nov 2011, returned end of August 2012) would I be exempt as I was only exempt for less than 2 of the years?
Apologies if I'm failing to get a grasp on this

spideog7

Caliden wrote: »

So if I went on a J1 for Summer 2011 (June-Aug) and went back on a 12 month J1 graduate (Nov 2011, returned end of August 2012) would I be exempt as I was only exempt for less than 2 of the years?
Apologies if I'm failing to get a grasp on this

Yes if your J1 in 2011 was your first one then I believe you would be exempt for both 2011 and 2012.

Neopolitan

ProudDUB wrote: »

If you are no longer living in the US, you can file a remote tax return electronically with the IRS, from your own home, using your own computer. However, you will need the IRS compatible software on your PC before you can file your return. TurboTax is the most well known brand that US based peeps tend to buy and use. Do you know anyone over there who can loan you the disc? It's probably a waste of time for you to buy the full software kit for a once off filing.

Did you have a bank account while you were in the US? If you did, you'll be sent a refund check that you can deposit into your account, or you can choose to have it deposited directly into your bank account. Or you have it sent to you on a prepaid Visa card thingy. Be careful of taking that option. I got my last US tax refund on a pre paid Visa card, but no Irish shops/banks etc would take it.

I'm going to try claim my tax back but I closed my bank account just before I left the US. Do no shops or banks here accept the visa card?

ProudDUB

The shops that I went to here in Ireland did not take it. They couldn't process it. When I originally got it in the US, there was over a thousand dollars on it. I had no problem using it all over the US. But when I was in Ireland, it didn't work. I have no idea why. Maybe its because we use chip and pin machines here, that they do not use in the US, or maybe there is some other reason. There was only about a hundred dollars left on it at that stage, so I was not all that bothered about investigating any further. I just sent it to my sister in the US and told her to spend it on groceries or whatever. The INS have an office attached to the US Embassy in London. You could always give them a ring, and see what your options are to get your refund if you longer have a US bank account.

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/index.html

YoungKhalifa

I think I read somewhere that you have to ring the IRS to have them send the official 1040-NR Form to you, that you can't simply use the one on the website.
Anyone know if this is right?

lil_lisa

Nope, you can use the one on their site from here.