Hi,
I arrived in the US in August 2002 on an F-1 visa for college. After graduating in 4 years, I was on my OPT and have since transferred my status to J-1 in order to get training at a US company. I have now been in the US intermittently for 5 1/2 years on a student/trainee visa.

When I began working on my OPT, I did some research and found that OPT and J-1/F-1 visas did NOT have to pay social security and medicare taxes. With this knowledge, I told my small marketing company to stop withholding them, which they did. But recently, I discovered that by being present in the US as a J-1/F-1 visa for more than 5 years, I am actually a resident for tax purposes and should not be exempt from these taxes. So for the year 2007, I should have been paying the ss & medicare taxes.

I don't know what tax form to file now... :confused: and I don't know if I will be held responsible to pay back the social security or medicare taxes. I sent my company the IRS website to prove that I did not have to pay ss & medicare, but they never actually asked me if I passed the presence test or not.

Please help!:(

You need to inform your employer of the situation and leave it to them to fix the problem. YOU will not be held responsible by the IRS, as the IRS holds the EMPLOYER responsible in such matters.

More than likely, they will do NOTHING, because they will be liable for some rather large fines for not withholding the taxes to begin with.