Second J1 visa and tax exemption

[edoardorainoldi]

Hi everyone!

First of all, I apologise in advance if someone asked this already but I really couldn't find it.

I'm filing my first tax return for 2019 since I've been an intern in the US since July 30th 2019.

I'm currently on a J1 intern visa and my sponsor told me I was exempt from FICA taxes since I'm on that visa.

The issue is that I already got a J1 visa back in 2014/2015 as an exchange cultural student. Someone told me that my exemption is calculated from that visa which does not make any sense to me since I could not work in the US so I wouldn't be able to use the tax benefits.

Even if that's when my exemption started, isn't it 5 years for students?

I pass the substancial presence since I was in the US exactly 183 days in 2019.

Am I a non-resident alien or resident alien for 2019?

Thank you so much in advance!

[KarenJ2]

If you are on a J-1 visa for interns and trainees, there is a rule for J1 nonstudent visas called the 6 year lookback rule. This rule says that if you were exempt for 2 out of the past 6 years, you cannot be exempt again.   If this is the case, you need to file a dual status return for 2019, part year nonresident and part year resident.  Please see Publication 519 for more information on dual status filing.  You would need to file both a nonresident return and a resident return. On the resident return, you are not allowed the standard deduction or allowed to file married filing jointly.

If you are on a J-1 student visa, you would have 3 more years filing as a nonresident according to the information you provided.

TurboTax is only for US citizens and full year residents.  

TurboTax does not support nonresident returns. 

However we have a partnership with Sprintax offering a nonresident tax filing solution to our TurboTax customers.  

Visit the TurboTax/Sprintax site for more info or to get started. 

[edoardorainoldi]

Hi Karen, thank you so much for such a detailed answer!

[LinaJ2020]

You are welcome!