Hello
I am a physician working in the US, I am on a J1 visa. I came to learn that its different for us when it comes to filing for tax refund. I started my job in 2005, and since then I have been my employer has been holding federal, state, local, social security and medicare taxes from my payroll. I filed twice for tax refund and I realised recently that they filed my taxes as a resident. Now I have some questions:
1) Since I filed my first 2 years as a resident and I should have filed them as non-resident, what would happen to me? Do I have to contact the IRS and explain? Do I owe the IRS money or do they owe me? What should I do?
2)I have been paying social security and medicare taxes for the last 2 years, I understand now that I should not pay those taxes in my first 2 years with the J1 visa. How can I get my money back?
3)When you file as a non-resident, are you eligible for the same deductions as a resident? I mean since I filed my first 2 years as resident, if I recalculate the tax refund as a non resident, would I owe the IRS money or what?
Please help me with this matter I am really confused and I do not want to have problems with my taxes as I am trying to change my visa to H1 soon.
THanks