In most cases in the United States,
you must pay social security tax and Medicare Tax as an employee in the United
States. Under the U.S. Security System,
paying of these taxes contribute to your coverage.
For individuals that meet
specific eligibility criteria, Social security coverage provides retirement benefits
and medical insurance or Medicare benefits.
Your employer withholds these taxes from each wage payment. Even
if you do not anticipate qualifying for social security or Medicare benefits, your
employer must deduct these taxes.
Generally, in the United
States, irrespective of the citizenship or
residence of either the employee or the employer, U.S.
social security and Medicare taxes apply to payments of wages for services
performed.
In partial situations such as the services performed outside the United
States, these taxes apply to wages. If
social security and Medicare taxes apply to your wages, your employer should be
able to inform you. If no taxes are due on behalf of you, you cannot make
voluntary payments.
If social security or Medicare taxes were withheld in error
from pay that is not subject to these taxes, contact the employer who withheld
the taxes for a refund.
You can file a claim for refund, and claim for Refund
and Request for Abatement with the Internal Revenue Service on Form 843 if you
are unable to get a full refund of the amount from your employer.
Attach the
following items to Form 843:
- INS
Form I-94,
- If
applicable INS Form I-538, Certification by Designated School Official,
and
- If
applicable, Form 8316,Information Regarding Request for Refund of Social
Security Tax Erroneously Withheld on Wages Received by a Nonresident Alien
on an F, J, or M Type Visa,
- A
statement from your employer indicating the amount of the reimbursement
your employer provided and the amount of the credit or refund your
employer claimed or you authorized your employer to claim.
You must
provide this information on your own statement and explain why you are not
attaching a statement from your employer if you cannot obtain this
statement from your employer,
- A copy
of your Form W-2 to prove the amount of social security and Medicare taxes
withheld,
- Showing
the visa stamp a copy of the page from your passport.
Medicare taxes for self-employed individuals and self-employment
tax is the social security. Nonresident aliens are not subject to
self-employment tax. Resident aliens must pay self-employment tax under the
same rules that apply to U.S.
citizens.
However, a resident alien employed by an international organization,
a foreign government, or a wholly owned instrumentality of a foreign government
is not subject to the self-employment tax on income earned in the United
States and outside the United
States.
In order to coordinate social security coverage and taxation
of workers employed for part or all of their working careers in one of the
countries, the United States
has entered into social security agreements with foreign countries. These
agreements are usually referred to as totalization agreements.
Under these agreements, dual coverage and dual contributions
(taxes) for the same work are eliminated. The agreements generally ensure that
social security taxes (including self-employment tax) are paid only to one
country.
You can get more information on the Social Security Administrations
web site http://www.qai.irs.gov
Currently, any income above $90,000 isn't subject to social
security tax. This presents a problem for the nations poor and the federal government's
level of social security tax received.
As our population begins to age
increasingly, there are fewer and fewer based employees to sustain the fueled
growth and maintenance of the social security system.
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