Filing american income taxes on a J1 visa

[canuck2006]

I know I have to file american taxes (I have my W2) this year on a J1 visa, but questions relating to this:

a. do you still file taxes at your home country, i.e. I am Canadian, do you file taxes in Canada this year?
b. are we exempt from paying the medicare and social security tax? if so, how do we file a claim for this if we've already paid it?

Thanks!

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[f_w]

a. do you still file taxes at your home country, i.e. I am Canadian, do you file taxes in Canada this year?

If you had income in canada, I suppose they would want to have a bite of it. But that would be up to the canadian tax authorities. Except for the USA, I don't think any other country taxes worldwide income of their citizens even if they don't live in the country.

b. are we exempt from paying the medicare and social security tax? if so, how do we file a claim for this if we've already paid it?

For the first 18 months or so you ar exempt and your employer shouldn't have witheld it. If they did, talk to a CPA whether you can get it back. If I remember correctly, you can't get FICA taxes back, however if you overpaid you can get a credit for it on your federal return (it is then counted as if you paid too much regular federal income tax).

Make sure you know whether you have to file a part-year return or a full-year return (with the part-year return you have to itemize your deductions which on a residency salary is usually not helpful). Also, look at your states residency rules, some will require you to file a part-year return as well.