Hello,

Please help me, I am in a complex situation. Like so many H1-B visa holders, I was on OPT (F1) till Sep 30th 2009 and my H1 started from Oct 1st 2009 and I worked whole year for a single company but in two states. In what status do I have to file my taxes for 2009, is it Resident or Non-Resident

Here are the details, I worked in NJ from 01/01/2009 to 07/15/2009 and correctly paid my federal (exempt from FICA, Medicare , etc. as I was on OPT for this period) and NJ state taxes. From 07/16/2009 to 09/30/2009 I worked in Rhode Island (RI) and correctly paid RI state taxes for that period. From 10/01/2009 to 12/31/2009 I worked in RI on H1-B visa status and correctly paid all federal, state (RI), FICA, and Medicare etc.

Now I got three W-2's from my employer, details:

1st W-2 (OPT) --- federal taxes reported till 09/30/2009 and NJ state taxes reported till 07/15/2009

2nd W-2 (OPT) --- RI state taxes reported from 07/16/2009 to 09/30/2009

3rd W-2 (H1-B) --- federal, FICA, Medicare and RI state taxes reported from 10/01/2009 to 12/31/2009

I tried to file online (1040-EZ) to get an estimate that how much will I get back for 2009, this is where I got surprised to see that I am only getting $300 ($990 from federal and I owe $635 for NJ) odd back out of around $11,000 taxes I paid for whole year. So I tried file only for the period I was on OPT i.e till 09/30/2009, where I am getting around $3000 back total and If I file only for H1-B period I am getting total $2000 back.

But why am I only getting $300 back when I am properly reporting everything to IRS. Please help me does my status change making any difference my tax return. And in my opinion I don't think I should be getting only $300 back out of $11,000.

I would really appreciate if any one can help me in this matter, thanks in advance.

If you did not complete 5-years on F-1/OPT and are not married, file nonresident tax return.
On H-1B you must pay FICA taxes and income taxes.