[prayerxu]

I'm a J1 visa holder from China, my DS-2019 form shows I will stay in US for 3 years. I have lived in Italy for several years just before I came to here. The university payroll office told me as follows:
Based on the country of residence immediately before entering the U.S. not the country of citizenship, you would not be eligible for the U.S. and China tax treaty. The Italian tax treaty is not an option, because they just ratified their treaty with the U.S. in that if you are invited to the U.S. for more than 2 years, you would not be eligible for that treaty, and since your DS-2019 was issued for more than 2 years.
You are subject to the income tax. So you are exempt from the social security and medicare taxes for the first 2 calendar years.

Now I pay fed income tax every month? It will be great if anyone can give me some information whether I should pay this tax! Thanks in advance!

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Based on your post, I agree with the University's interpretation.