Totalization Agreements and being exempt from Social Security and Medicare

[giogis245]

Hi everyone,

Can someone shed some light regarding the totalization agreements. I have a foreign teacher who is here in the USA from Spain on a J1 visa. He has requested the Certificate of Coverage from the social security agency from Spain and is waiting for that. But now, 2013 he already paid in and everything, will he get the money that he already paid in back or how does that work?

Thank you.

[bertrans]

First, you can find the list of all nations that have a totalisation agreement with the US on irs.gov, as well as on any search engine.

Secondly, once your client receives the confirmatory certificate of payment from Spain, he(you) may file a 1040X, attaching a copy of the certificate. It is the sort of claim that is handled fairly straightforwardly.

[TaxMan60601]

http://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/spain.html

http://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Texts/spanish.html - The agreement itself

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Foreign-Student-Liability-for-Social-Security-and-Medicare-Taxes - "The United States has entered into agreements with several nations called TOTALIZATION AGREEMENTS for the purpose of avoiding double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes." As far as I see, taxes here are already paid.

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Exempt-Individuals-Teachers-and-Trainees

You cannot claim FICA refund on form 1040X. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i843.pdf

Usually, unis provide a lot of info on this.