As a J-1 visa holder exempted from the requirement to pay Social Security and Medicare, you can pursue obtaining a refund of improperly withheld Social
Security and Medicare taxes via two routes:
- You can request that
your employer refund the withheld taxes to you.
- If the company will not
refund the withheld taxes to you, you can file a claim for refund with the
Internal Revenue Service on Form 843, Claim for Refund and
Request for Abatement.
For more
information, see the folllowing IRS guide on Social Security Tax / Medicare Tax
and Self-Employment:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/social-security-tax-medicare-tax-and-self-em...
Please note that J-1 visa holders who substantially comply with
the requirements of that visa, and who do not exceed the duration of their
specific Visitor Exchange Program, are exempt from the Substantial
Presence Test used to determine eligibility for being a resident alien for U.S.
income tax purposes: this means that you are considered a nonresident alien.
As a
nonresident alien you will need to file a Form
1040NR to report any U.S.-source income you have. TurboTax does not support Form 1040NR, so you will
not be able to use TurboTax for your specific tax situation.
You may want
to check out Sprintax, who are specifically
geared towards international student nonresident aliens with 1040NR filing
requirements.
For more
information please see IRS Publication 519, US Tax Guide for Aliens:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf
