Taxes in the US

This time, I thought would just write about tax paying in the US for my fellow residents or new residents starting this year. First off the basics, a tax year is counted from January 1 to December 31, and you are required to file federal income tax returns by April 15.

There are multiple ways to pay taxes

• Online - Turbo tax etc which are really simple and free, at least the basic outline
• Through an agent for a fee

I personally did mine through an agent since I am new to the States and I did not have much free time as an intern. In the first year of residency, you get a decent amount of money back and hence I recommend going with an agent. So, as usual, I asked my senior on who to contact and he gave me the contact details of his tax agent and she kinda ran me through the entire process. There were some colleagues and seniors of mine who have stated that one can get the same amount of refund via online software's (Turbo-tax), but I personally did not have much time or luck to go through the same.

To file taxes you need the following documents 

1. W2 from your employer
2. 1099-INT if you had any miscellaneous incomes (see below for more details)
3. Moving expenses (a rough estimate)

Once you get those details you send the same to your tax agent who gives you an estimate of how much refund you get and then you are set.

Note

If I am not mistaken there are 3 taxes in total

- Federal (USA)

- State (Ohio)

- City - The general consensus is that one does not owe city tax if you live and work in the same city. 

Elaborating on some terms

Form W4

When you join a company, your employer will ask you to fill Form W4. That form gives information to the employer regarding how many deductions an employee can make. For every deduction claimed, the employee is able to deduct a certain amount of income from the income tax. The number of deductions claimed in the W4 form is just an estimate regarding how much tax you may owe. 

1099

There are several types of 1099 forms:

• 1099INT: For interest paid by a bank.
• 1099DIV: For dividends and distributions paid by financial institutions.
• 1099R:Distributions from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.
• If you paid interest on a mortgage or real estate taxes, you will receive 1098 with that information.

Building a HISTORY in the States

These tips and tricks are entirely based on the advice of a VERY wise senior. When you first come to the States for residency, you will need a couple of things to setup.

SIM CARD
Firstly a mobile number. Given that a good number of residents come from outside the States, having a network which gives you free calling to your home country is a BONUS. That's where UltraMobile comes into place. I know in my previous post I said H2O is good, but trust me when I say that UltraMobile is the real deal. For 30$ per month, you get unlimited calls to India with 1GB of 4G data, which is PRETTY IMPRESSIVE! It also has an option of getting nano sim, so in case you decide to upgrade your phone, which many of you will do, it has got your back covered! :) You can get the initial sim on Ebay for 10 bucks which gives you the first month for FREE!
It is totally up to you on how risky you want to be. If you want to buy it directly from UltraMobile, here is your link

BANK ACCOUNT
Next is for earning cash back when you open a bank account. Generally find the bank which your institute has a tie up with. Go to their site and check for any promos that they are running. They might have an offer that should you open an account with their bank you will get a bonus of $ XYZ for signing up!!! which is PRETTY AWESOME!
P.S.- I used Keybank and got 1/3 of a $1000 :P

CREDIT CARD
The last trick that again, my senior taught me, was regarding getting a credit card. Most of the USA banks DO NOT give you a credit card UNLESS you have a credit history. However, Discover does give you one with no credit history with a credit line of $1500 which is PRETTY COOL! So in case you are still hunting around for a credit card do head out to Discover and check it out. You can shoot me an email @ neilnf@gmail.com if you want a referral, following which you and I get a referral bonus for $50 each.

That's it, folks!

UPDATE: Just FYI for the bank you need a direct deposit to get the bonus. For both SSN is needed. For the credit card you need address proof as well.


If you do have any other tricks, please do let me know. After all we are here to help each other! :)

Drivers License in the states PART 2

Read the previous test for documents needed for the knowledge (written) test.

Once you pass the driving test you will have to produce the following documents to get your driving license

1. Utility bill or something that has your name and address on it (Lease agreement might not work from what I got by the look of the guy)
2. Passport
3. i94
4. Letter from employer
5. Indian license
6. SSN card
7. The paper which your examiner gives you stating that you have passed
8. A USA CHEQUE to pay the money for the license. CARDS ARE NOT ACCEPTED!!
9. And do dress nicely since you ll be taking a picture which will be on your license :P

That's all folks :)

P.S: The sad part is that the license is for the duration of your visa. So most of us will have to renew it yearly :(

Driver's License in the States

The Driver's license test generally has 2 parts. 

Knowledge and the ACTUAL driving test

If you have an Indian license, take the same along with the following documents

1. Passport
2. I-94 printout
3. Letter from employer stating that you work there
4. SSN- Details on how to get one is in the previous post.

For the knowledge test, you can practise online by doing practise one's according to your respective States. You can get few here (http://driving-tests.org/) In Ohio, the test has 40 questions and you just have to get 75% of the questions to clear the exam and then schedule your DRIVING test.

Best of luck!

P.S.- I read the manual and did the above questions. Most of the questions just need plain common sense answers :) So it really won't take too much time.

Steps to H1B for new medical residents

1. Apply for the medical license to your respective state board- From Receipt to Acknowledgement around a week; from there to the actual license around 2 weeks. So, a total of 3 weeks.
2. Get yourself an attorney from the list that your program sends you/ ask your colleagues where they are doing theirs from
3. Talk to the attorney regarding fees and stuff (generally program pays for all except the premium processing fees) Fees find below
4. Depending on your attorney’s liking, apply for a visa based on an acknowledgment letter/Training license certificate
5. He then sends the application to the USCIS who then will issue you a petition number
6. Based on that you CAN complete the next 2 forms i.e. [you need the petitioner’s name and dates approved for, and your point of contact in the States which generally is your PC]
1. DS 160 - Tips for filling the forms can be found HERE (thanks to Dr. Vikas)        
2. US travel docs form 
7. OR  
8. You can wait for the approval and use the exact dates the petition got approved for and the Petitioner
9. Get an appointment- Pay the visa fees according to the exchange rate.
10. Go for the interview with the documents the Attorney sends and ta-da you have your visa.

OFC DAY

Take the following for the appointment

1. DS 160 confirmation page
2. Appointment confirmation
3. Passport

Stand in line, get your fingerprints and photo clicked and you are done for day 1. If you have already done for visitor visa(B1/B2), this should be a cake-walk since you know what to doJ

P.S. Please take a photo according to the instructions on the consulate website since there have been problems with the IT aspect for quite a number of my colleagues and me. {2*2 inches and stuff}

INTERVIEW DAY

Take the above and supporting documents which HAS to include (I-797B i.e. H-1B petition approval notice)

Please note- Some people also say that you have to take the other forms like i129 (Petition application for H-1B), I-797C (Receipt for the premium processing). But frankly speaking, they are not needed, if you have it, then well and good but, the I-797 B is a MUST.

Questions asked

• Where will you be working? – In a Hospital
• Oh, so you are a doctor? – Yes
• *He was delighted by that* May I know your salary? $ XXX
• Good, your visa is approved.

And I walked out a happy man J

For Chennai, passport collection is from the OFC. Please refer to the consulate site for documents to be taken while collecting the Passport.

Fee  Type	Fee	Who Pays for it ? Why ?
Base filing fee	$325	Program It is employer’s business expense
Fraud prevent & detection fee	$500	Program It is employer’s business expense. Just like above, it is mandated by law.
Fee based on attorney charges	$1000-$2000	Program. It is employer’s business expense.
Premium processing fee (Optional)	$1,225	Generally we pay for it ourselves, but you never know if the program will be good enough to pay for you J Please read the note at the end of the post
Visa fee (fee involved in getting H1B visa at US consulate)	varies by country	Your expense. All the costs involved in obtaining visa, including cost involved in translation of your credentials, etc. It will NOT be an employer’s expense. The employer will only send you the documents required for visa stamping.

NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

• Even if you are approved well in advance of your start date at your program, you cannot enter the US in H-1B until 10 days before the start date of your Residency i.e. June 20 considering your start date is July 1^st
• The Attorney generally requests for the full 3 years of H-1B, however, there is no guarantee that the immigration Service will give all 3 years. According to their regulations, they should give 1 year (even if we request 3 years) since the Training license is for 1 year (license issued by the State of OH). Some examiners will give 3 years (depends on your luck as to which examiner gets your case). So if you get 3 years, count yourself lucky. If you are approved for 1 year, there is no problem renewing the H-1B status again next year in the US.
• You will need someone, who has a bank account with a US bank to send a cheque for the $1225 premium processing fee. At least that is what my attorney insisted on, but guess this part varies from attorney to attorney.