Social security and medicare tax exemption for non-resident alien spouse

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am filing my taxes jointly with my wife. She is a non-resident alien (F-1 visa) and currently working. Since she is exempt from paying social security and medicare taxes, her W2 don't have any SS/Medicare tax withheld. After, I entered all our details on turbotax, she is being charged these taxes. Is there a way to inform turbo tax that she is exempt from paying those taxes?

[LinaJ2020]

What do you mean by she is being charged these taxes?  

If there are no FICA taxes reported on her W-2, you would not have any related information to enter in the program.  When you enter her W-2, you would enter her information as to how it was reported by her employer without changing anything.  If you are referring to the income tax imposed on her portion of the income, that is different than FICA and she is subject to be taxed due to her residency has been changed from nonresident to resident.  As a resident, she is required to report worldwide income including the income she made within the United States. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your answer. Do you mean, if the social security and medicare taxes are not being withheld (blank boxes on W2), TurboTax will not add/subtract them from our refund?

[LinaJ2020]

That is correct.  TurboTax does not reduce your tax refund by the FICA taxes.  If your employer withholds too much of the FICA, the program will alert you for that, but not the other way around. 

[dbrown31]

So Turbo Tax won't flag it, but that means they are still liable for FICA? Somehow they will be invoiced for missing social security and medicare contribution on that world income? How does it work? Thanks

[KarenJ2]

If she is on an F1 student visa for less than 5 years or part years, she is exempt from paying FICA.  If she is in the US on an F1 visa for more than 5 years or part years she is liable for FICA taxes and will need to work with her employer to correct this situation.

If she is in the US for less than 5 years or part years and you both choose to file married filing jointly, she is still exempt from FICA. The election to file married filing jointly does not affect her FICA exemption.