I saw this posting on a website and thought this was interesting. I don't know if this letter is suggesting a trend toward acknowledging the fact that we all know that medical residents are students and should be treated as such for tax purposes.

Highlights from this article:
(dated 4/9/2009)
"While the IRS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) scored some early victories in several district court decisions, the Second and Sixth Circuits have recently joined the Seventh, Eighth, and Eleventh Circuits in holding that the student FICA tax exception under Internal Revenue Code (the Code) section 3121(b)(10) is not inapplicable to medical residents as a matter of law."

"Like the Sixth Circuit, the Second Circuit remanded the cases to their respective district courts to conduct a factual inquiry as to whether the medical residents are
“students” and the teaching hospitals “schools."

Here's the link for the article:
http://www.morganlewis.com/pubs/EB_FICATaxRefunds_LF_09apr09.pdf

Cheers!
Roger