Hello,

Thanks for your precious help, it's difficult, especially for foreign people to find answers...
My husband has a J1 as a researcher, me a J2, we are french.
For 2 years, he will have the tax-exemption because of the article 20 of the treaty.
Some french friends told us that after these 2 years, you can still have a refund of your fed taxes and ss tax because with the J1 visa, even if they say the contrary, you are never a resident (written in the treaty), so you can justify that you are still a french resident and have your money back (at least from the fed). What do you think about this ? The same for the SS. You can justify that in France you have your own SS, you paid for that, and they had also their money back... Do you think it's really risky ?

Thanks

You are getting faulty advice.

The treaty exemption that offers the two-year tax-free period clearly ends on the second anniversary of your arrival date. In the transition year, you can probably file jointly with your spouse and you both CHOOSE to be treated as resident aliens for the entire year, while STILL claiming the treaty exemption for the first part of the calendar year that is covered under the J-1 tax exemption. You would have to submit Form 8833 with Form 1040 to claim the exemption.

If you need professional tax help with this, email me at [email protected] or [email protected].

As for the FICA taxes, that is not a treaty issue; it is covered under U.S. tax law. Your spouse becomes liable for FICA taxes at the beginning of the third calendar year in country.

EXAMPLE: You arrive in September 2010 under the J-1 visa. You are exempt from FICA taxes for 2010 and 2011, and begin paying FICA taxes on 1 January 2012.