Status change from F1 to H1B visa

[alexis94jo]

My visa status changed from F1 to H1B in october 2017.

My company has been taking out taxes from my paycheck except for medicare and social security taxes until september 2017, since F1 holders don't need to pay madicare and social security tax.

Now I tried filing my tax on turbotax, and it estimates that I owe money, not getting a refund. Which is weird, because my paycheck comes out with all the taxes withheld. I think it might be because social security and medicare tax I didn't pay until september 2017..? 

First, how do I know why it says I owe money, 

Second, how do I fix this?

Thank you!

[pk]

From what you say for the Calendar year 2017   ----    (a) you were an exempt  Non-Resident Alien from Jan 1st  thru Sept 30th , 2017 and thus taxed on  US sourced income at a flat rate and no SSA or Medicare;  (b) From Oct 1st thru Dec 31st. you are Non-Resident Alien being taxed on US sourced income.  Both of thje  above require 1040-NR series form(s)   which are not supported by TurboTax.  Also unless we have to total  days  you have spent  in the USA under any conditions for each of 2015, 2016 and 2017,  we cannot be sure  that you are not a dual status tax payer.   Please provide details

[alexis94jo]

I stayed in the U.S as F1 from August 2012- September 2017, and I have been H1B since October 2017- now. and I am planning to stay for at least another 5 years. and each year,  I spent more than 300 days in the U.S

[pk]

your exempt status ( days present in the USA not counting towards substantial presence test ) finished  five years from the time you were admitted to the USA under the F-1 visa. So  you start counting your substantial presence days from  September 2017  thru end of the year --- not 183 days of presence --- thus you are still a non-resident alien for the rest of 2017 -- file  form 1040-NR ( not supported by TurboTax).  You would have to pay Social Security , Medicare for the last four months of the year.
Also note that the taxes withheld are only an estimate, the final figures of the tax liabaility is only computed during f preparation/ filing of your anual return.

[bine22]

the first five calendar years are 2012-2016, so days in 2017 on F1 do have to be counted towards the SPT