Visa holders · J-1 visa
Your J-1 visa taxes include income tax on your US pay, but usually not Social Security or Medicare.
The Social Security and Medicare exemption lasts only while you are a nonresident alien. While it lasts, your pay goes on Form 1040-NR, in most cases with no standard deduction.
Updated · Sources
Nonresident J-1 exchange visitors
- 7.65%
- is the employee’s Social Security and Medicare rate on wages, which a nonresident J-1 does not pay on program work.
- 2 years
- is how long a J-1 researcher’s days usually stay uncounted for residency, or 4 if a foreign employer pays all their compensation.
- 5 years
- is how long a J-1 student’s days usually stay uncounted, in calendar years.
A treaty exemption for teaching or research has its own time limit, separate from these counts.
Do your days on a J-1 count toward US residency yet?
The substantial presence test, the day count that can make you a resident alien, leaves out days you spend as an exempt individual. Your J-1 days stay exempt while you meet the first two conditions below and stay within the year limit that fits you.
You hold a J-1, or a J-2 as family of a J-1
The exemption covers you and your immediate family on J-2 visas. That means your spouse, and your unmarried children under 21 who live with you.
You keep to the terms of your program
Activities that could cost you J-1 status, such as unauthorized work, end the exemption. That is true even if your visa is never revoked.
Everyone but students: 2 years in 6
The tax code treats every J-1 who is not a student as a teacher or trainee, researchers and interns included. Your days count this year if you were exempt for any part of 2 of the 6 prior calendar years. Years you spent here as a student count toward the 2.
Paid by a foreign employer: 4 years in 6
The limit rises to 4 of the 6 prior years if a foreign employer paid all your compensation. A foreign employer must also have paid you in full in each earlier year you spent here as a teacher or trainee.
Students: 5 calendar years
As a J-1 student, your days stay exempt for 5 calendar years. Earlier years as a J-1 teacher or trainee count toward the 5. After that, your days count unless you show you do not intend to live in the US permanently.
Exempt here means your days are not counted. It does not make your pay tax-free.
On $60,000 of pay, a nonresident J-1 owes less federal tax than a resident, even with no standard deduction.
Nonresident J-1 researcher
$7,912
Income tax on the full $60,000, with no Social Security or Medicare.
Resident alien, same pay
$9,610
The standard deduction cuts income tax to $5,020, but Social Security and Medicare add $4,590.
J-2 spouse, same pay
$12,502
The same $7,912 of income tax as the J-1, plus $4,590 of Social Security and Medicare.
J-1 professor from the UK
$0
On a university visit of 2 years or less, the treaty exempts the teaching pay itself. Form 1040-NR is still filed to claim it.
Each figure is 2026 federal income tax plus Social Security and Medicare, using the 10%, 12% and 22% brackets in Rev. Proc. 2025-32. Single filers and married people filing separately share these figures. With no standard deduction, $60,000 is taxed at $5,800 plus 22% of $9,600, or $7,912. After the $16,100 standard deduction, the resident’s remaining $43,900 is taxed at $1,240 plus 12% of $31,500, or $5,020. Social Security and Medicare, at 6.2% and 1.45% of pay, add $4,590 for the resident and the J-2 spouse only. Article 20A of the US-UK treaty takes the professor’s income tax to zero. State tax and other deductions are left out.
What changes when a J-1 becomes a resident alien?
You keep the same J-1 visa, but the US now taxes you like a citizen. Figures are for 2026.
| Nonresident J-1 | Resident alien | |
|---|---|---|
| Income taxed | US income Pay from a foreign employer is left out | Worldwide income Pay from a foreign employer included |
| Standard deduction | None Except for students and business apprentices from India | $16,100 For a single filer |
| Social Security and Medicare | None on program work | Withheld from your pay |
| Return | Form 1040-NR Plus Form 8843 | Form 1040 |
| Treaty teaching exemption | Applies within its time limit | Only if the saving clause allows it The treaty clause that lets the US tax its own residents |
In the first year your days count, 183 days in the US usually make you a resident alien. Residency then runs from your first day in the US that year. Earlier exempt days never count toward the 183.
J-1 tax mistakes often start with a miscounted year or an exemption you do not have.
Counting your years from the day you arrived
The limits count calendar years, and a few days in a year use up that whole year. A researcher who arrives in November 2025 is exempt for 2025 and 2026, and counts days from January 1, 2027. A student who arrives in August 2025 counts 2025 as the first of 5 years.
Assuming every treaty exempts teaching pay
Only some treaties exempt pay for teaching or research, and those with Canada, Mexico and Japan do not. China’s exemption lasts 3 years in total. Under the UK and India treaties, a visit longer than 2 years loses the exemption for the whole visit.
Paying Social Security you did not owe
If your employer withheld Social Security and Medicare from exempt pay, ask it for a refund first. If it refuses, claim the refund from the IRS on Form 843, with your W-2, visa, Form I-94 and Form DS-2019. Add a statement from your employer, or your own statement or Form 8316 if it will not give one.
Skipping Form 8843 because you had no income
Each exempt J-1 and J-2 files Form 8843 for every exempt year, income or not. It goes with Form 1040-NR, or on its own by that return’s due date. Filing it late does not cost you the exempt days.
Expecting California to follow your treaty
California generally does not follow federal tax treaties for its own income tax. So pay for work in California usually stays taxable there, even when a treaty exempts it from federal tax. Other states set their own treaty rules, so check yours.
Assuming the FICA exemption follows you to an O-1 or H-1B
The FICA exemption ends on the date of the change, because it covers only F, J, M and Q visas. Every day on the new visa counts toward residency. Your exempt J-1 days stay out of the count.
Valim’s CPAs file every J-1 year, from Form 8843 to your first Form 1040.
We also prepare the returns and Forms 8843 for your J-2 spouse and children.
- We count your exempt years from your visa history, then prepare Form 1040-NR, your state return and each Form 8843.
- If your tax treaty exempts teaching or research pay, we claim it after checking your visit against its time limit.
- We check each W-2 for Social Security and Medicare taken from exempt pay, so you can ask your employer to refund it.
- We set estimated payments when you become a resident paid by a foreign employer.
- We answer IRS or state notices on a return we prepared, such as a question on your exempt days, within your fee.
- Individual return
- from $195
- Business return
- from $495
We quote a flat fee before work starts. We do not bill hourly.
J-1 visa tax questions.
Do J-1 visa holders have to pay taxes?
Yes, J-1 visa holders pay federal income tax on their US pay, and state income tax where the state has one. As nonresident aliens, they report that pay on Form 1040-NR, with no standard deduction unless they are students or business apprentices from India. A nonresident J-1 does not pay Social Security and Medicare on program work. A degree student’s taxable scholarship is withheld at 14%, or a lower treaty rate.
Do J-1 visas pay Social Security tax?
No, a nonresident J-1 visa holder pays no Social Security or Medicare tax (FICA) on work that carries out the program’s purpose. Becoming a resident alien ends this exemption, even if the visa stays the same. For researchers and trainees, that is usually the 3rd calendar year, and for students the 6th. A J-2 spouse or child who works pays both Social Security and Medicare. Work visas such as the H-1B and the TN carry no such exemption.
Who gets the new $6000 tax break?
Form 1040-NR has a line for the new $6,000 senior deduction, so an unmarried J-1 scholar aged 65 or older may claim it. It applies for tax years 2025 through 2028, and needs a Social Security number on the return. It phases out by 6 cents for each dollar of modified adjusted gross income over $75,000.
What is the $600 rule?
The $600 rule was the payment level that required a business to file Form 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC. The 1099-NEC threshold rose to $2,000 for payments made after 2025, with inflation adjustments from 2027. The Form 1099-K threshold is back to more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions. These thresholds decide only whether a form is filed. A missing form never makes your pay tax-free, whatever your visa.
Are J-1 researchers tax-free for their first 2 years?
Usually not: the 2-year J-1 visa tax exemption people cite is a day-count rule for J-1s who are not students. Their days stay out of the substantial presence test for 2 calendar years, so they usually stay nonresident aliens. Their pay is still subject to income tax, unless a treaty exempts it. Some treaties, including the UK and India treaties, exempt teaching or research pay for up to 2 years.
Sources
- IRS, Foreign students, scholars, teachers, researchers and exchange visitors
- 26 U.S.C. § 7701, Definitions
- 26 C.F.R. § 301.7701(b)-3, Days of presence that are excluded for purposes of section 7701(b)
- 26 U.S.C. § 872, Gross income (pay from a foreign employer)
- 26 U.S.C. § 3121, Definitions (employment for FICA)
- 26 U.S.C. § 3101, Rate of tax (Social Security and Medicare)
- IRS, Publication 519 (2025), U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens
- IRS, Form 8843 (2025), Statement for Exempt Individuals
- IRS, Instructions for Form 1040-NR (2025)
- IRS, Instructions for Form 843 (12/2024)
- IRS, Publication 901 (Rev. September 2024), U.S. Tax Treaties
- Protocol to the US-UK convention (2002)
- US-China income tax agreement (1984)
- US-India income tax convention (1989)
- 8 U.S.C. § 1101, Definitions (INA Section 101(a)(15)(J))
- IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments)
- California FTB, Publication 1031 (2025), Guidelines for Determining Resident Status
- Public Law 119-21 (One Big Beautiful Bill Act), §§ 70103, 70432 and 70433
Reviewed and updated September 2026. General information, not advice for your situation.