I was on a student visa from 8/2002 until 5/2006. For the remainder of 2006 I was working on OPT. In 2007 I went back to school and as a result my I-20 was extended. In August, 2007 I got married and filed my residency paperwork. My husband and I filed a joint return in 2007. In 02/2008, I was employed by a different employer. I received my green card in April, 2008. No Social Security or medicare taxes were ever withheld from my paycheck. My employer informed me that they will issue a corrected W-2 in May of this year and will pay their portion of the unpaid SS taxes. I have two questions related to this:
1. What form do I use to calculate the SS and Medicare taxes I need to pay for 2008? What is the timeframe for paying those?
2. Do I need to do anything for my 2007 taxes?

I really appreciate any help I can get on this issue.

Thanks,

IntlTax

You should have paid FICA taxes in both 2007 and 2008. There is no form specifically available to pay the tax. The IRS will accept FICA taxes on Form 4137, even though this form is really for FICA taxes on tips. THe IRS may not come after you for the FICA taxes. If you want to make sure the proper tax is paid you should see a tax professional and ask them to calculate the FICA taxes and have them paid via Form 4137.

IntlTax

Correction on the form to use for the FICA taxes. The proper form is Form 8919. See http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8919.pdf

rootje

Does form 8919 really work? If you read carefully, then in question 1--5 (f) you have to fill out the wages
on which (A) no Social Security/Medicare was withheld *and* (B) that was not reported on your W-2.

In this case, the wages were (!) reported on a W-2. So, you fill out 0 dollars here. The end result is that you
get 0 dollars at question 13.

It seems that this form is not the right one?

AtlantaTaxExpert

In this case, I dsiagree with IntlTax.

Using Form 8919 is for those individuals who disagree with their designation as independent contractors. In my opinion, filing that form will ultimately cause problems for your employer.

The employer paying ONLY his share of the FICA taxes will NOT be an acceptable solution to the IRS; they will insist that the full amount (your share and the employer's share) be paid, even if the employer did NOT collect your share from you. For this reason, the BEST way to pay your share of the FICA taxes is through your employer, perhaps on a payment plan.