I'm going to ask for an expert @pk
Are you now a US citizen, green card holder, or resident alien?
In general, if there is a tax treaty with the other country, you have two choices when it comes to social benefit insurance (equivalent to social security).
A. Treat it as social security income in the home country. Pay tax in the home country according to the home country's rules for social security income. Leave the income off your US return (this is the "rely on the treaty" strategy.)
B. Ignore the treaty, do not pay tax in the home country, and declare it as "other/miscellaneous" taxable income in the US and pay US tax on it.
Whether A or B is better in your situation depends on the tax scheme in the home country. For example, if taxes in the home country are higher on social security than in the US, B might be better. But if the home country already withholds tax payments and the only way to get it back is to file in the home country, then A might be better.
I don't know if there is a tax treaty with China or what the terms are. Hopefully the other expert can help.
