[Michael1984]

Hi,

I am a PhD student in the UK who worked for 3 months as a visiting research assistant at a university in California last summer. I obtained a J1 Short Term Scholar visa and spend about 100 days in CA. This was my only time in the US ever.

During my time in CA, I have been FICA but not state or federal tax exempt. Having recently received my W-2 statement, I'd like to do my tax refund.

Originally, I am from Austria, however, I have lived for the past 6 years in the UK in which case the UK-US tax treaty should apply. This treaty apparently allows all of my compensation to be exempt from (federal) tax (source http://www.visataxes.com/tax_treaty_benefits.php).

My question is now, on how can I declare this in the 1040NR-EZ form? I have read in a previous post (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/taxes/uk-usa-tax-treaty-refund-197772.html) that CINTAX puts in a request in the form 1040NR-EZ for the withheld taxes to be repaid. My experience is that one can declare such a tax treaty, however, the amount of taxes owned does not change because of this.

It would be great if anyone could clarify this!

Best wishes,

Michael

[MukatA]

On J-1 as research scholar, you are exempt from residency for two years and your income is exempt from federal income tax. So you do not pay FICA as well federal income tax.

You will still file Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ with Form 8843. Report your income and then claim deduction of income as per UK and U.S. tax treaty for Researchers. Your U.S. Tax Return: U.S. Tax Filing Requirements for Non-Residents

Your income is not exempt from CA tax. Also if your income is less than $14622, you are not required to file CA tax return.

[Michael1984]

Thanks MukatA.

The part I am unsure is on how to claim the deduction as per the UK-US tax treaty. In particular, on form 1040NR-EZ, there is a box (6 & J(1)) where I can list the amount of my exempt income. However, the bottom line of the remaining calculations still shows that I do not get all my taxes back since box 6 (=income exempt by a treaty) is ignored by the tax calculation in the form.

Shall I simply regard the "Refund"-part in the form and just hope that I will get all of my taxes back because of the UK-US tax treaty?

Best wishes,

Michael

[Michael1984]

Please also let me know on if there is a need to attach form 8833 "Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b)".

Thanks a lot!

[Michael1984]

Anybody know on if the form 8833 is required (in addition to 1040NR-EZ & 8843) for getting back withheld tax via the UK-US tax treaty?

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

For 2009, you MUST use Form 8833 to explain your treaty position to the IRS, since the new Forms 1040NR and 1040NR-EZ do NOT have anywhere on theforms to explain your treaty position.

[Michael1984]

Thanks for the reply. I used CINTAX to fill out my tax forms and it did not use Form 8833. I wonder if this will be OK.

For 2009, you MUST use Form 8833 to explain your treaty position to the IRS, since the new Forms 1040NR and 1040NR-EZ do NOT have anywhere on theforms to explain your treaty position.

[joejk2]

Apologies for hijacking this thread, but I'm in a similar position: a British post-doc working in California on a J1 visa.

My adjusted gross income is $0 because of the UK-USA tax treaty, and this seems to imply that I don't pay any California tax either (unless I misunderstand the 540NR form). This seems to contradict MukatA's post above.

Any clarification gratefully received,
Joe

[Michael1984]

Hi Joel,

I filed a CA tax return and got almost all of it back (about 90%). I did not use any tax treaties since my income was pretty low - let me know if one could have used a tax treaty as well.

Apologies for hijacking this thread, but I'm in a similar position: a British post-doc working in California on a J1 visa.

My adjusted gross income is $0 because of the UK-USA tax treaty, and this seems to imply that I don't pay any California tax either (unless I misunderstand the 540NR form). This seems to contradict MukatA's post above.

Any clarification gratefully received,
Joe

[joejk2]

Looks like UK-US tax treaty does *not* extend to California tax (see below). This implies that copying gross adjusted income from 1040EZ-NR to 540NR (as instructed) doesn't apply in our case.

Best,
Joe

--------------------------

Dear Joe,

Treaty benefit do not grant benefit for State tax and since you are residing
In CA, the State of CA would consider you to be a resident. You would file
A return with CA.

Regards,

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Agreed; California does NOT honor tax treaties with other countries, so a California tax return IS due.