J-1 scholar tax treaty question (two-year-limit, new visit at new institution)
Dec 31st 2020, 10:06 am
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J-1 scholar tax treaty question (two-year-limit, new visit at new institution)
Hi all,
I'm currently in the US as a postdoc on a J-1 visa, and have a question about the UK-US income tax treaty. Specifically about article 20A, which provides for a tax excemption for researchers if they go to the US for a visit lasting at most 2 years. This has been discussed in this forum a few times before, and hopefully some of those of you who have experience with this are still around.
My question relates to the 2-year-limit rule of this article. As is written in the treaty, the technical explanation, and various other sources online, if one stays in the US for more than two years, the tax excemption is lost retroactively, even for the first two years. Generally it seems that one would have to leave the US for at least a year before returning for the return to count as a new visit, rather than an extenion of the initial visit past two years. However, I've found a couple of reports on here of people who were able to return very soon after the two years on a different visa category and taking up an industry job. Specifically caleyjag, bdobke and _EJ_
So essentially it looks like if you quit being an academic, leave the US (even for a day), and return for an industry job, the IRS will consider your "research visit" to have ended, and you coming back on a new "industry" visit, and hence you get to keep the tax excemption for the research visit (provided that was under two years). Now I'm in a similar situation, except I wouldn't be switching to an industry job, I would be taking up a position at a different university. Does anyone here have any experience, idea, or even just a hunch, if it might be possible to have that counted as a separate visit too? Would it make a difference if I stay on my current J-1 visa, or if I switch to a different J-1 category (eg. research scholar to short-term scholar)?
Also, where can one get more information on this? I tried calling the IRS, but whichever phone number I called and whatever menu choices I made, I eventually ended up hearing a pre-recorded message saying that the IRS didn't answer that type of question over the phone anymore and to check their website.
Thanks so much everyone!
I'm currently in the US as a postdoc on a J-1 visa, and have a question about the UK-US income tax treaty. Specifically about article 20A, which provides for a tax excemption for researchers if they go to the US for a visit lasting at most 2 years. This has been discussed in this forum a few times before, and hopefully some of those of you who have experience with this are still around.
My question relates to the 2-year-limit rule of this article. As is written in the treaty, the technical explanation, and various other sources online, if one stays in the US for more than two years, the tax excemption is lost retroactively, even for the first two years. Generally it seems that one would have to leave the US for at least a year before returning for the return to count as a new visit, rather than an extenion of the initial visit past two years. However, I've found a couple of reports on here of people who were able to return very soon after the two years on a different visa category and taking up an industry job. Specifically caleyjag, bdobke and _EJ_
Also, where can one get more information on this? I tried calling the IRS, but whichever phone number I called and whatever menu choices I made, I eventually ended up hearing a pre-recorded message saying that the IRS didn't answer that type of question over the phone anymore and to check their website.
Thanks so much everyone!
