You would need to file a United States tax return in order to claim a refund for any income tax withheld from your pay (wages; compensation), while you were working in the US.
For United States tax filing
purposes, J-1 student visa holders are generally considered "Nonresident
Aliens," at least for the first 2 calendar years (non-students) or 5
calendar years (students).
If you've been present in the
United States for long enough, then you can file a tax return as a "Resident Alien," in which case you would simply use the same Form 1040, 1040A, 1040-EZ
series to file that other US taxpayers do. If you must file as a nonresident
alien, then you will need to file a Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ, plus Form 8843.
Here are some links to learn
more about the resident alien test for J-1 visa holders, along with some
detailed examples:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/determining-alien-tax-status
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/alien-residency-examples
While TurboTax can complete
most any tax type of tax return for US citizens and resident aliens, at the
present time we do not support the nonresident Form 1040NR series of tax
returns.
However, TurboTax has
partnered with a company called "Sprintax.com" to offer
certain nonresident tax preparation services. They can certainly help you
with filing a Form 1040NR, with a J-1 visa. However, before paying
anything out-of-pocket for tax preparation, I would respectfully suggest that
you contact them (directly) first and learn more. For further information
you can visit them on the internet at:
https://www.sprintax.com/non-resident-alien-tax-1040nr-turbotax.html
(Their company phone number
and physical address are under the "Contact" link on their website.)
So, the ultimate answer to your question depends on what US residency status (nonresident alien; resident alien) you qualify to use. If it is the resident alien status, then simply create an online TurboTax account on our website and answer all of the necessary questions. If it is the nonresident alien status that you need to use, then please visit Sprint.com at the website link just given above, and they can help prepare the necessary tax return.
We hope this information will
prove useful to you, and thank you for asking this question.
