How to claim a tax treaty with Turbotax ?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 3, 2019
1 reply
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I am in the US since May 29th, 2018 under a J1 trainee visa, meaning I should be tax exempt by a treaty France-USA. I started filing my taxes with Sprintax but after filling the forms with my information, Sprintax told me I was considered a resident for tax purposes (I have been in the US 4 months in 2015 with a J1 visa , 5 months in 2016 with a J1 visa + a week vacation in 2017). So Sprintax told me to use Turbotax instead but when I try to claim my tax return, there is no mention of the tax treaty and it looks like I am not getting the refund I should.

I have got my W2 from my employer, the Federal taxes box is blank. But some taxes were still taken from my paycheck for an amount of $250 per month.

TurboTax Basic Windows

Best answer by Leonard11_2

To claim your tax treaty in Turbotax follow these steps

You will report your income as usual then you will enter the treaty-exempt amount as negative income under "Less common income".

You will have to file a Form 8833 to claim the exception however TurboTax does not support Form 8833, so you cannot e-file. You may use the program to prepare your return, but you will need to print out your tax forms and mail the returns along with the form 8833 and a copy of your tax documents ( for example, W-2 /Form 1099s).

With TurboTax open select Wages & Income.
Scroll down to Less Common Income and select Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C.
On the next page select Other reportable income.
On the page Other Taxable Income enter Tax Treaty Exclusion in the description and enter your exclusion as a negative amount
This will put your Tax Treaty Exclusion on Schedule 1 Line 21 of your 1040.

This link Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b) is to Form 8833.

[Edited 03/10/2020 | 12:53 pm PDT]

Leonard11_2Answer

Level 10

To claim your tax treaty in Turbotax follow these steps

You will report your income as usual then you will enter the treaty-exempt amount as negative income under "Less common income".

With TurboTax open select Wages & Income.
Scroll down to Less Common Income and select Miscellaneous Income, 1099-A, 1099-C.
On the next page select Other reportable income.
On the page Other Taxable Income enter Tax Treaty Exclusion in the description and enter your exclusion as a negative amount
This will put your Tax Treaty Exclusion on Schedule 1 Line 21 of your 1040.

This link Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b) is to Form 8833.

[Edited 03/10/2020 | 12:53 pm PDT]

soniaglg1995Author

Level 2

Thank you for the details. Although, what do you mean by entering my "exclusion as a negative amount" ? Is there a specific amount I have to enter ? And where do I find it ?