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vensonwang · Feb 19, 2011, 11:43 AM

Hi everyone,
I am a recent graduate who just graduated on Dec. 2010.

Since I had an internship last year, so I am asked to file my W-2 returns on-line, however some numbers are different than what I have expected, it would be awesome if you could clarify some of my questions.

Below are this years information:
2. Federal income tax withheld = 1211
4. Social security tax withheld = 754
6. Medicare tax withheld = 176

And here are my questions:
a. From the information on-line, I understand that I am exempt from 4. Social and 6. Medicare taxes and would get partially return my Federal income tax(5000*x%), but how come my calculation on-line only shows only 911 dollars?

b. Because my internship is in California, and I am currently a resident at Georgia, does that mean that I still have to pay Georgia around 385 dollars?

This number is far away from my expectation and I am wondering whether I missed something on my filing or it's just a normal situation.

Thanks so much for the help

regards

AtlantaTaxExpert · Mar 10, 2011, 12:26 PM

You CANNOT file on-line if you earned the income while on CPT, because, as an international student, you are a non-resident alien and must file Form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ, plus Form 8843 and the California return for the internship income earned in California.

You CAN avoid paying Georgia income tax on the internship in California because, by law, you are NOT a Georgia resident.

If you have already filed on-line, the IRS now considers you to be a resident alien, so any attempt to get the FICA (Social Security and Medicare) taxes back from the IRS will fail. You will need to FIRST amend the 2010 income tax return to re-instate your non-resident alien status BEFORE submitting the Form 843 to get the FICA tax refund.

If you need professional help filing your return and FICA tax request, email me at [email protected].