Work and Travel tax refund: the complete guide for J-1 participants

Who this guide is for

This guide is for students who came to the US on a J-1 visa in the Summer Work Travel program and worked for a US employer: hotels, restaurants, amusement parks, beach towns, ski resorts. The same rules mostly apply to J-1 au pairs, with one difference covered at the end.

What you can get back

A typical Work and Travel paycheck has four kinds of tax taken out. Each follows its own rules.

• Federal income tax (W-2 box 2). Employers usually withhold as if you were a US resident who works all year. You only worked a few months, so your real tax is often lower and the difference comes back.
• Social Security and Medicare, also called FICA (boxes 4 and 6). As a nonresident J-1 visa holder, you don't owe these taxes on work allowed by your visa. That is 7.65% of your wages. If they were taken, you can claim all of it back.
• State income tax (box 17). Depends on the state. In some states a summer income is below the taxable level, so all of it comes back. Florida, Texas, Washington, Nevada and five other states have no income tax on wages at all.
• Local tax (box 19). A few cities and counties tax wages. These are filed separately.

Your tax status: nonresident alien

For US tax purposes, J-1 participants who are not students in the US count as "exempt individuals" for 2 of every 6 calendar years. In those years your days in the US don't count toward residency, so you are a nonresident alien. Your immigration status doesn't decide this. The tax rules do.

Being a nonresident changes three things. You file Form 1040-NR, not the regular Form 1040. You can't take the standard deduction, so your state income tax becomes your main deduction. And you are exempt from FICA.

Does my country's tax treaty help?

It can. Some US tax treaties exempt part of the wages of trainees or students. Under the treaty with the former USSR, which still applies to Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, pay for work done in the US is fully tax-free if you were in the US 183 days or less that year. Read more in our guide to the US tax treaty for Moldova, Georgia and other CIS countries.

Which forms you file

• Form 1040-NR, the federal return for nonresidents.
• Form 8843, a statement that your days in the US don't count toward residency. Every J-1 participant files it, even with no income. See our Form 8843 guide.
• A state return, if you worked in a state with income tax.
• Form 843 with Form 8316, only if your employer won't refund FICA taken by mistake. See how to get FICA back.

Documents to collect

1. Passport and J-1 visa page.
2. Form DS-2019 from your sponsor.
3. Your I-94 record (download it free from the CBP website).
4. Form W-2 from every employer. Employers send them by January 31.
5. Your Social Security number.
6. Entry and exit dates for every US trip in the last three years.
7. Bank details for the refund. A US account works, and so do Wise, Revolut or Payoneer.

Lost a W-2 or your employer closed for the season? Ask the employer's payroll office first. If that fails, the IRS can provide a wage transcript.

Deadlines and timing

If federal tax was withheld from your wages, the federal return is due April 15 of the following year. You can still claim a refund for up to three years after that date. A 2023 return, for example, can still get its refund until April 15, 2027.

Once e-filed, refunds arrive in 3 to 5 weeks on average. Paper returns take 6 to 8 weeks on average, and FICA claims take longer, often 4 to 6 months for Form 843.

Common mistakes

• Filing Form 1040 with consumer software. Most popular tax software only prepares resident returns. Claiming a resident standard deduction you aren't entitled to can lead to IRS letters and penalties. Read can a nonresident use TurboTax?
• Not asking for FICA back. It is often the largest part of the refund.
• Skipping the state return. Many states refund most or all of a summer's withholding.
• Using a "refund agency" that keeps a large percentage. Ask for the full price before you sign anything.

Au pairs

Au pairs follow the same nonresident rules, but host families usually don't withhold tax from the stipend. That means au pairs often owe a small amount rather than getting a refund. Filing on time avoids penalties and keeps your record clean for future visas.

Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information based on IRS publications and form instructions as of November 2026. It isn't tax advice for your situation. Rules change, so our tax experts check every return before filing.