Ask Me Help Desk - F1 student on CPT

Hi

I graduated on Jan 31st of 2007. I worked on CPT status last year till Jan 31st 2007 and now I am on OPT. I worked for my school in NY in 2006 spring and worked for NJ firm from Summer 2006 on CPT. I have not filed my 2005 tax returns too :( and this is in Jan 2005 from Portland, OR.

My questions

- What tax forms should I file
- I have worked with 3 different states in last 2 yrs and have three w2 forms, which state tax returns should I file
- what returns should I expect and should be getting all of my taxes as returns as I am alien resident
- please tell me the form names too
- Please tell me what taxes should I pay on OPT status... should my federal, state and ssn taxes should be collected??

Thanks
Karthik :)

Karthik:

For both 2005 and 2006, file either Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ.

You file a state tax return for each state in which you earned income.

Have no idea what your refunds will be; you provided no income or withheld tax figures.

While on OPT/CPT, you are still a student under a F-1 visa. You are liable for federal, state and local income taxes, but not Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Thanks for the reply.. for the figure which you asked for are as below and let me know what should I expect from the below details

2005 Jan -- $112.15... tax (federal with hold)- $10 I don't remember social and medical..
2006 Spring -- $800... tax (federal with hold)- $34
2006 oct, nov, dec -- $14,000... tax( federal with hold)- $1800 (state)- $ 400

I have one more question, I am OPT from feb 2007... my salary for this year is $70,000/yr and all the taxes(federal,state) withhold for this year will be returned after I file the tax returned. i.e.., if I have a tax withhold of nearly 8000$ of federal and 1200$ of state... will I be getting back that amount whenever I file the tax returns ?

I am a gradute in Computer science (Master of Science) from City College of New York and last in last year 2006 graduate walk my deam announced that for gradutes whose salary is below 140,000$/yr will have a return of 4000$... I have no clue whether this aoplies to all gradutes in US or specific to NY state graduates or City College of NY gradutes and I am not able to find out about this information anywhere... I am asking this question because in future I save a lot on H1b :)... hence can you look into this also please... :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

Karthik:

For both 2005 and 2006, file either Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ.

You file a state tax return for each state in which you earned income.

Have no idea what your refunds will be; you provided no income or withheld tax figures.

While on OPT/CPT, you are still a student under a F-1 visa. You are liable for federal, state and local income taxes, but not Social Security and Medicare tax

Thanks for the reply.. for the figure which you asked for are as below and let me know what should I expect from the below details

2005 Jan -- $112.15... tax (federal with hold)- $10 I don't remember social and medical..
2006 Spring -- $800... tax (federal with hold)- $34
2006 oct, nov, dec -- $14,000... tax( federal with hold)- $1800 (state)- $ 400

I have one more question, I am OPT from feb 2007... my salary for this year is $70,000/yr and all the taxes(federal,state) withhold for this year will be returned after I file the tax returned. i.e.., if I have a tax withhold of nearly 8000$ of federal and 1200$ of state... will I be getting back that amount whenever I file the tax returns ?

I am a gradute in Computer science (Master of Science) from City College of New York and last in last year 2006 graduate walk my deam announced that for gradutes whose salary is below 140,000$/yr will have a return of 4000$... I have no clue whether this aoplies to all gradutes in US or specific to NY state graduates or City College of NY gradutes and I am not able to find out about this information anywhere... I am asking this question because in future I save a lot on H1b... hence can you look into this also please...

For 2005, you will get all your money back. BTW, you have no legal obligation for file a return for 2005 due to the low amount of money earned.

The computations for 2006 will take too much time, something in very short supply right now!

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

For 2005, you will get all your money back. BTW, you have no legal obligation for file a return for 2005 due to the low amount of money earned.

The computations for 2006 will take too much time, something in very short supply right now!

Well Tax Expert, you have not answered my questions completely :(.. can you please look back into the questions asked and reply it back.. I will appreciate... I did not understand when u said... 'something in very short supply right now!'?? What do u mean by this ?

And please look back to the questions asked previously

Karthik:

Actually, it is rather simple: 15 Jan to 15 April 2007 is the 2006 tax season. I am a practicing tax professional who has a stock of unfinished tax returns on my desk at home.

To do the calculations you want, I would have to take time from my practice to do those calculations. In short, I would have to delay preparing tax returns for people who have PAID me for my time and expertise to answer your question, for which I get NO compensation whatsoever.

Thus, doing this time of year, I simply will not do complex tax calculations for someone for free when I have clients waiting for me to finish their tax returns.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AtlantaTaxExpert

Karthik:

Actually, it is rather simple: 15 Jan to 15 April 2007 is the 2006 tax season. I am a practicing tax professional who has a stock of unfinished tax returns on my desk at home.

To do the calculations you want, I would have to take time from my practice to do those calculations. In short, I would have to delay preparing tax returns for people who have PAID me for my time and expertise to answer your question, for which I get NO compensation whatsoever.

Thus, doing this time of year, I simply will not do complex tax calculations for someone for free when I have clients waiting for me to finish their tax returns.

Please give me your contact number and email id so that I can reach you, I can pay you for the service provided :)

You can contact me at [email protected].