Hi,

I am a British citizen working in the US since August 2007 on a J1 visa. I have filed income tax returns as a non-resident for 2007 and 2008.

I am now in the process of switching to an H1B visa and was wondering if I could re-claim the two years of income tax paid whilst under the J1 regime? I remember remotely there being a two year tax treaty exemption between the UK and US.

Thanks! :)

Yes, you can recover US federal taxes you paid in error. If in your circumstances you held the J visa as a "teacher or reseacher", the tax treaty does exempts you from income tax for 2 years, on "wage" income, ( per pub 901 Tax Treaties, p52, available on the IRS website, Internal Revenue Service, type in Pub 901 in the search box).

How do you make this correction?

You make this correction by filing a form the IRS provides for making corrections, Form 1040X. See the instructions for this form, 1040X Instructions, page 3, under "Resident and nonresident aliens". It states the specific instructions you need to follow to make this correction and receive your refund.
(Please note: you'll need to site the specific treaty reference that allows this exclusion, its Article 20A, of the Uk treaty).

Remember, you must file this correcting return to claim any refund generally within 3 years of the original filing, or 2 years of paying the tax, whichever is the latest, or it
will be disallowed.

Good luck on your filing

If you worked as Teacher, Researcher or Professor, and meet the requirements, then you can file amended tax return to claim tax treaty deduction.

Outstanding. Thank you to both of you.