Hi,
I am a German J-1 scholar and my problem is as follows:
I never filled out the form 8233 with my university as the tax treaty with Germany used to be retroactive and I was advised by my university to pay federal taxes from the beginning in case I would stay longer than 2 years (what seemed likely).
Recently the US-German tax treaty has been revised (see yesterday's post by me) and the 2-year tax exemption is not lost anymore if you stay more than 2 years.

So I wonder how I can get back the federal income tax that was withheld in 2008 (and possibly also for 2007).
Can I just claim the exemption with the 1040NR-EZ form even without having filled out form 8233 in 2007/2008? Or can I fill out form 8233 in retrospect?
What can I do to take advantage of the revised treaty?

I would be very grateful for any help.

You definitely can amend the 2008 return to claim a complete refund under the new treaty, as the new treaty took effect on 1 January 2008.

You would submit Form 1040X with Forms 1040NR-EZ and 8833 attached.

Once you got the 2008 refund, you should then try for 2007; after all, the worst that could happen is the IRS says NO!

If you need professional help doing this, contact me at [email protected].