Hello,

I have a question regarding my tax return. Last year I worked in the US with a J-1 visa. Besides my wage I received rental reimbursement for bringing my own laptop and a housing allowance. My employer documented both amounts as "equipment" under reimbursements on my payslips. Taxes were withheld only from my wage, not from the reimbursements.

The W2 I received states the amount I received as wage, while the 1099 miscellaneous form states the reimbursements’ amount under “rentals”.

I sent all documentation to an online company that files tax returns for people who have worked abroad. They claim that I’m not entitled to a tax refund but that I actually owe tax.

I understand the housing allowance wasn’t documented properly by my employer, but either way aren’t reimbursements supposed to be tax free? I don’t understand why I now have a tax debt.

I hope someone can give me some clarification before I pay the supposed debt. Thank you very much in advance.

The tax company should have completed Schedule C for the Form 1099 income to allow you to deduct the associated costs. I suspect that they just added the income on Line #21 of Form 1040, resulting in the extra tax.

Thank you so much for your help!

Just to be sure I completely understood: the Schedule C is supposed to be completed by the company that's filing my tax return, not by my employer?

I'm sorry, I really don't have a clue about US tax forms!

Thank you very much in advance again.

The Schedule C is attached to and filed with the Form 1040NR.