Hi Tax experts, I was a graduate students in USA with F1 visa for 4 years. After graduating, I went back to China. I've been in China for almost one year. This summer I came to USA as a visiting scholar to do some research for 4 months. The lady in payroll department told me that I can't benefit from tax teaty aritcle 19, since I have been in USA for a few years. But I was students with F1 Visa. I'm wondering is she correct?

Thank you very much!

I see nothing in the tax treaty or technical explanation that addresses how student visas (F-1) affect researcher visas (J-1), so U.S. tax law would apply.

Under U.S. tax law, the time under the F-1 visa DOES apply to the J-1 visa, so the tax exemption would not apply.