If you worked a U.S. summer on a J-1 through Camp America, your Camp America tax return is a Form 1040-NR plus Form 8843, filed with the IRS by April 15 of the year after you worked. That return is how you report your camp wages as a nonresident alien and how you get back any federal income tax the camp withheld beyond what you actually owe. Skipping it usually means leaving a refund on the table, and in some cases inviting penalties that follow you into future visa applications.
How the IRS Classifies You
The IRS treats Camp America counselors as nonresident aliens for federal tax purposes. J-1 visa holders who enter as “teachers or trainees” (the IRS category that covers summer camp workers) can exclude their days of U.S. presence from the substantial presence test for up to two calendar years.1Internal Revenue Service. Taxation of Alien Individuals by Immigration Status – J-1
The practical consequence is money. Nonresident aliens cannot claim the standard deduction.2Internal Revenue Service. 3Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 Your camp withholds federal income tax from every paycheck using graduated rates, and because nonresidents must file W-4s as Single with no additional allowances (absent a treaty), withholding often runs slightly higher than your actual liability.4Internal Revenue Service. Federal Income Tax Withholding on Wages Paid to Nonresident Aliens The overpaid portion is your refund, and filing is the only way to get it back.
Forms and Documents You’ll Need
W-2 from Your Camp
Your camp must issue this by January 31 of the year after you worked.5Internal Revenue Service. General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 Box 1 shows your taxable wages; Box 2 shows the federal tax already withheld. If Social Security or Medicare tax was taken out in error, you’ll see numbers in Boxes 4 and 6. Camps typically mail W-2s to a U.S. address, so leave the camp your correct forwarding details before you fly home.
Form 1040-NR
This is the nonresident alien income tax return, the main form you file.6Internal Revenue Service. About Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return Move your W-2 numbers straight across: Box 1 wages on the wages line, Box 2 withholding on the payments line. Without the standard deduction, your taxable income is essentially your gross wages unless a treaty or itemized deduction reduces it.
Form 8843
Every J-1 visa holder files Form 8843, even someone who earned nothing all year.7Internal Revenue Service. Form 8843 – Statement for Exempt Individuals The form documents the days you spent in the U.S. and your visa category, which is how the IRS confirms you legitimately excluded those days from the substantial presence test. If you had wages, staple 8843 to your 1040-NR. If you didn’t, send it by itself.
Taxpayer ID Number
You need either a Social Security Number or an ITIN to file. Most Camp America participants get an SSN on arrival. If you didn’t qualify, complete Form W-7 and attach it to the front of your paper return.8Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form W-7 Note one restriction: you cannot e-file a return in the same calendar year the IRS issues your ITIN, so a first-time W-7 filer must mail everything in.
Form 8833 If You’re Claiming a Treaty
Any treaty position needs a Form 8833 attached, identifying the country, the treaty article, and the amount of income you’re sheltering.9Internal Revenue Service. Form 8833 – Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b) Claiming a treaty benefit without this form can bring a $1,000 penalty even when the exemption itself was valid.
Deadline and How to File
If you had wages with tax withheld, the deadline is April 15 of the year after the tax year.10Internal Revenue Service. Taxation of Nonresident Aliens For a summer 2025 camp job, that’s April 15, 2026. You can push the paperwork deadline to October 15 with an automatic extension, but any tax you owe is still due April 15 and interest runs from that date on anything unpaid.11Internal Revenue Service. Need More Time to File? Dont Wait, Request an Extension
Nonresident aliens can now e-file Form 1040-NR.12Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 1040-NR Regular consumer software like TurboTax is built for U.S. residents and won’t produce a valid nonresident return. Sprintax is designed for J-1 nonresidents; it handles the 1040-NR, Form 8843, and any treaty claim, and charges around $50 for a federal return.
Paper filers, or anyone applying for an ITIN with their return, mail everything to Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, Austin, TX 73301-0215.13Internal Revenue Service. International – Where to File Forms 1040-NR, 1040-PR, and 1040-SS That’s the address for returns claiming a refund or owing nothing. Use a trackable service and keep copies, especially if you’re mailing from abroad.
Social Security and Medicare Should Not Be Withheld
Federal regulations exempt J-1 nonresident aliens from Social Security and Medicare tax (FICA) when the work matches the visa’s purpose, and summer camp counseling clearly qualifies.14eCFR. 26 CFR 31.3121(b)(19)-1 – Services of Certain Nonresident Aliens The combined employee FICA rate in 2026 is 7.65%, so on $4,000 of summer wages the exemption is worth about $306.15Social Security Administration. Contribution and Benefit Base
Some camps withhold FICA anyway if their payroll system isn’t set up for J-1 workers. If your W-2 shows amounts in Box 4 or Box 6, start with the camp’s payroll office. They can correct their records and refund you directly. If they refuse or can’t fix it, file Form 843 with the IRS.16Internal Revenue Service. About Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement Attach the W-2, your visa paperwork, and a written statement from the employer confirming they couldn’t issue the refund themselves.
Tax Treaty Benefits by Country
The U.S. has income tax treaties with dozens of countries, and some contain provisions that reduce or eliminate tax on exchange-visitor income. Whether you qualify depends on your home country and the exact treaty language:
- United Kingdom: certain training-program income may be tax-free for up to two years.
- Canada: up to $10,000 in personal service income may be exempt.
- India, China, and Spain: roughly $5,000 to $10,000 of personal service income may be exempt for limited periods.
Not every country’s treaty covers camp wages. Check IRS Publication 901 for the article that applies to your country before assuming you qualify, and attach Form 8833 to claim it.
State Income Tax Is Separate
Federal filing doesn’t cover the state where your camp sat. Nine states impose no personal income tax on wages: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Work in one of those and you’re done at the federal level.
Everywhere else, expect a separate nonresident state return. About half the states require nonresidents to file after a single dollar of in-state earnings; others use day-count or dollar thresholds a full summer will cross. Your paycheck probably had state tax withheld automatically, and the only way to reconcile that (or reclaim an overpayment) is a state return on that state’s form, by that state’s deadline.
When Your Refund Arrives
E-filed returns with direct deposit are fastest, usually a few weeks. Paper returns take six weeks or more from the date the IRS receives them.17Internal Revenue Service. Refunds The “Where’s My Refund?” tool on IRS.gov shows status within 24 hours for e-filers and about four weeks in for paper filers. If the IRS takes more than 45 days to process your refund, they owe you interest on the overpayment.18Internal Revenue Service. Interest
What Happens If You Don’t File
Plenty of counselors leave the U.S. in August and assume small earnings mean nobody’s watching. The IRS is watching, and the penalties can outweigh the tax.
The failure-to-file penalty is 5% of unpaid tax per month (or partial month) the return is late, capped at 25%.19Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6651 – Failure to File Tax Return or to Pay Tax The failure-to-pay penalty adds 0.5% per month on any unpaid balance, also capped at 25%. On $400 of unpaid tax left for a year, the combined penalties push toward $150.
The visa consequences matter more than the dollars for many people. Consular officers can access tax compliance records, and a history of unfiled U.S. returns becomes a red flag when you apply for another J-1, an H-1B, or any other visa. Filing late is almost always better than never filing.
If your withholding already covered your full tax, the failure-to-file penalty is technically zero because there’s no unpaid tax to calculate it on. You still need to file, both to claim your refund and to keep a clean record. The IRS keeps money it withheld until you ask for it back.