As F1 Visa holder if I'm qulified to exempt some of tax for my income . If so, how much that would be and how can I do so?

[wchunhao]

I'm a Chinese and held F1 Visa less than 5 years in the US. 

[KarenJ · Accepted solution]

As an F-1 Visa holder who has not been in the United States for at least 5 years, you are exempt from the substantial presence test and you will be considered a Nonresident Alien.  TurboTax does not support Form 1040NR but you can go to the following website https://www.sprintax.com/ which is specifically designed to help in preparing your nonresident alien tax return.

If you have been in the US for less than 5 calendar years, you would be exempt from paying FICA tax (Social Security and Medicare).  However, you would still need to file a nonresident federal and state returns if you earned income in 2019.

[wchunhao]

Thanks for the answer, I heard there is $5,000 as exemption in my income as F1 Visa holder in the US. Is that true?

[KarenJ]

Form 1042s is used to report income to non-resident aliens or aliens with tax treaty exempt income.
The China-US tax treaty allows you to exempt $5000 as a student even if you are a resident alien. Note that you can only exempt income earned while on F1, if you switched to H1B for example, you cannot exempt income earned under that visa.
Article 20 of the tax treaty applies.