F-1 and medicare/social security taxes

Bramb90

Bramb90

Member
I am about to file taxes for 2013. It came out that I owe 231 dollars. However, for the same year, my employer incorrectly withheld medicare and social security for the total amount of $1100( I am a student on F-1 visa so I am exempt from those taxes). Since my employer is unable to refund me such money and therefore I have to request it from the IRS, the IRS actually owes me $869. My plan is to fill out form 1040NR-EZ along with the forms in which I request a refund for medicare and social security with a cover letter, in which I'd say that I am not returning the 231 dollars because I am actually owed 1100 and therefore the difference is $869.

My situation is even more complicated.
For the years of 2011 and 2012, I incorrectly filed 1040A because I was advised to use turbotax which generated a form I was not supposed to use. I am now trying to amend taxes for those years. My income in 2011 was less than 2000 dollars so after filling out form 1040NR-EZ, it came out that I was owed the same money that was generated by form 1040A. However, for the year of 2012, form 1040A generated a refund of 1030 dollars when I was actually entitled to only $100. This means I would have to return ~900 dollars. However, because my employer withheld $2000, for the year of 2012, the IRS owes me more money, so I would like to proceed the same way as 2013 and request to get a refund of the difference.

I hope someone can help me out with this!! I already filled out all the forms but I want to avoid having to return 900 dollars and wait 10 months to get the $2000 that I am owed!
 
First of all, FICA taxes (social security tax and Medicare tax) are separate from income taxes. You do not deal with them on the income tax return. You must fill out the income tax return based on your income and income tax withheld. You cannot unilaterally decide to deduct this tax you think you are owed from your income tax.

According to this page, if you believe that your employer withheld FICA taxes in error, you must first go get it refunded from them. Only if you cannot get it refunded from the employer do you then file Forms 843 and 8316. This is separate from the tax return. People have had experiences of it taking years after filing these forms and hearing nothing back, so good luck with that.

Note that it's not entirely true that "I am a student on F-1 visa so I am exempt from those taxes". You are exempt from FICA if you are F-1 AND a non-resident alien. You are generally not a non-resident alien if you have been in the U.S. as a student for any part of 5 years. So you are only exempt from those taxes if it's in the first 5 years.

Income taxes for different years are separate. You can amend your taxes for past years, but you have to pay those separately from last year's tax return. (Also, there may be interest and penalties.)
 
I already asked my employer. They are unable to refund me the money and they gave me a letter stating that. My plan was not to deduct anything from any form. For the year of 2013, I would file 1040NR-EZ, show a due return of 231 dollars. I would then include forms 843+8316, showing how much I am owed of social and medicare and include letters from my employers+W2 and the rest of the required documents.
On the IRS website it does state that if I do not know where my employer files taxes, then I can file 843 and 8316 to the same place I am filing 1040NR. So why not include everything in the same envelope and have them figure out the math?(I was going to save them time for that by explaining the situation, like I mentioned before) I understand that federal, social security and medicare taxes are three different things but they all come from the same place! I called the IRS, they cannot give me an answer. So apparently it's a grey area.

I have not been in US for more than 5 years so I am exempt. I did my research.
 
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