@santoshpaluri , Namaste ji,
(a) Each year residency status is determined based on passing the Substantial Presence Test for that tax year ---
183 days present in US when all the days present in current tax year PLUS 1/3 the days present in previous year PLUS 1/6 the days present in the 2nd previous year-- is. for you all days present 2024, 1/3rd the days in 2023 , 1/6th the days in 2022.. All this does is to allow you to report your income and deduction on form 1040 and be taxed on your world income.
(b) If you leave the USA sometime before the end of 2024 ( 12/31/2024 ), you may still be a resident for the period you are here and a Non-Resident for the rest of the year ( thus avoiding being taxed on any income from your home country post departure)-- Dual Status . The issue here becomes the deduction --- you will be forced to use "Itemized Deduction" because as a dual status person you cannot allocate / use standard deduction and this would have significant effect on your taxable income. So most people would suggest either leaving early in the year or stay the whole year and leave perhaps around 12/31/ of the year.
(c) I do not understand your ref to return of withholding -- your withholding and refund therefrom is based on reconciliation of your total earnings, tax liability and does not matter when you become a Non-Resident Alien, except for the fact that your offsets ( deductions -- standard or otherwise ) to income get affected whether you can take advantage of the usual & higher standard deduction. If you are using Itemized deduction all the time then a shorter year ( due to becoming a Non-Resident ) may or may not matter -- because your itemized deduction is higher than standard deduction anyways .
This same logic is applicable for expats also -- when I was an expat , we generally tried to return back to USA around the start of the year -- thus allowing the full benefit of the standard deduction and Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.
Is there more I can do for you ?
Namaste
pk
