hello,

I graduated in may 2005 and was on opt until march 2006 when my h1b was approved. I am filing my 2006 taxes (yes very late for other reasons). my employer from may 2005 to march 2006 did not withhold ssn and medicare (including for the month of march 2006 when my h1b was already approved). I then switched to another firm (end of march 2006) and have been on h1b since, hence on h1b from april 06 and ssn and medicare has been deducted with this employer.

my question is: how do i file for 2006? can i file 1040nr given that i was on opt until the beginning of march? if yes, do i need to specify on page 5 that my status changed to h1b in march and if so, will they question why am i not filing dual or non-nr? If not, is this a dual?

also, for the moth of march, during which I was already approved for h1b and no ssn and medicare taxes were deducted is there something that I should do?

Thanks.
jgsm05