Hello,

One of my friends was a F-1 visa student on OPT for entire 2008 and part of year 2009. Yet she was charged social security and medicare taxes. For both years, she filed the form 843 and some other form (I can get the details if required). She kept hearing from IRS that they are looking into the matter, but she has never seen any money. I was employed on OPT as well, but never was charged SS or medicare. Is there any way she can expedite the process? This has been dragging for too long, I thought it was an obvious thing to return the SS and medicare withholdings by the IRS...

Just as a bit of research, I found out that even ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) website mentions that F-1 students are exempt from that payment - http://www.ice.gov/sevis/faqs/f1_m1_ssa_tax_information.htm#_Toc132794306.

Should she take any lawyer's help in getting this situation rectified? Are there any other channels she can try to make sure that the money is refunded?

Thanks

First and foremost, she should go to her employer and ask for a refund. Since the employer ALSO get a refund, the employer should be motivated to submit the needed paperwork and get the refund for both of them.

If that will not work, CALL the IRS and ask about her Form 843 submissions. It DOES take 3-6 months for Form 843 applications to be processed, but it should NOT take 2-3 years.

Thanks AtlantaTaxExpert! I did end up calling the IRS and apparently the refund was on hold because they had not received paystubs (which they asked for in some later communication). We will see what happens after sending the paystubs.

Thanks AtlantaTaxExpert! I did end up calling the IRS and apparently the refund was on hold because they had not received paystubs (which they asked for in some later communication). We will see what happens after sending the paystubs.

Yes, the IRS will ask for paystubs if the FICA tax request covers only part of the year.