Hi All,
I came to the US in January of 2007 as a student on an F-1 visa. I graduated in May 2010 and started working on my OPT in July of 2010. In February of 2011, I got engaged to a US citizen (my boyfriend from college) and on May 27th, 2011, we got married in Minnesota. We filed our applications in July 2011 and received my green card in December 2011.
Since you can get the FICA tax exemption for five years, my employer did not deduct FICA taxes from my payroll for the year of 2011 (she started deducting them in January 2012). I am now confused about filing my taxes -- I will be filing as married but I am not sure if I should file separately or jointly. My country of origin (Pakistan) also has a tax treaty with the US where the first 5K I make don't get taxed. I am guessing none of that is valid anymore? Since I was a permanent resident on December 31, 2011 -- for tax purposes, will I be a permanent resident for the entire year of 2011 (and hence will have to pay back the FICA exemptions)?
Any help would be much appreciated!
I came to the US in January of 2007 as a student on an F-1 visa. I graduated in May 2010 and started working on my OPT in July of 2010. In February of 2011, I got engaged to a US citizen (my boyfriend from college) and on May 27th, 2011, we got married in Minnesota. We filed our applications in July 2011 and received my green card in December 2011.
Since you can get the FICA tax exemption for five years, my employer did not deduct FICA taxes from my payroll for the year of 2011 (she started deducting them in January 2012). I am now confused about filing my taxes -- I will be filing as married but I am not sure if I should file separately or jointly. My country of origin (Pakistan) also has a tax treaty with the US where the first 5K I make don't get taxed. I am guessing none of that is valid anymore? Since I was a permanent resident on December 31, 2011 -- for tax purposes, will I be a permanent resident for the entire year of 2011 (and hence will have to pay back the FICA exemptions)?
Any help would be much appreciated!
