I'm a surgical resident now and an attending of mine, out of the blue, mentioned this whole thing about residents being considered students and are not required to pay medicare/social security taxes on their resident salary. I have done a superficial internet search on the topic and all the articles are from late 90's up to 2001. What is the current status of this?

It appears as though it depends on if my particular institution is filing a class action suit or not. If not, refunds could be granted on a case by case basis. I also found a table somewhere that listed some criteria for determining if a resident might be considered a student (I happen to meet most of them...)

Just curious, any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Zip Code: 40217

Here's my take on this issue. The IRS keeps losing in the courts, yet they are reluctant to refund these taxes to medical trainees.

The best shot you have of getting back this money is to be included in a "class action" submitted by the hospital. If your employer isn't willing to do so, then consider submitting an 1120X or 843 on your own. I wouldn't recommend spending too much time on this, however, since chances are good you won't end up getting a refund.

We have an article on this subject at www.mdtaxes.com/news0201.html. Like everything else that you've found on the web, this article was written back in 2001.

Zip Code: 01801