[tax treaty]

I am a J1 Post doctoral fellow who started working in a University lab in the US on Oct 1, 2008. I am Indian citizen but have been residing in germany for the past 7 years. I have paid income tax in germany for 3 and half years out of the 7, the other being my student time. Both India and germany have tax treaties with the US where J1 scholars can claim tax exemption for the initial 2 years. The major difference being that the Indian treaty is retroactive, i.e. if you stay beyond 2 years, you have to pay it all back, while the german treaty does not require you to pay back the taxes if you stay here more than two years.

1) As I was a resident of germany and not India, even though I am an Indian citizen, can I claim tax exemption under the US-German treaty? What specific documemts from germany do I require to make my claim?

2)Does implementation of this, make me liable for double taxation from germany by any chance?

3) My husband is here on a H1 visa as a research scholar and he too was residing in germany, but has indian citizenship. Can he also claim tax exemption under the US-German treaty for the first two years?

Thanks in advance...

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

1) The tax treaty states that residents from the Contract State are subject to the U.S.-Germany treaty, so, in my opinion, you CAN use this treaty .

2) No.

3) No, because his visa (H-1) is a work visa.

[fish75]

Hi,
I'm in exactly the same situation. I am an Indian citizen who lived in Germany for last 6.5 years and filed taxes for 5ys, 9 mo. Now I am in US on a J1 visa in CA. The online form that my university uses for generating tax status report has pla