Do I pay into SS and medicare if I earned money abroad?

Question

Let's say I made $5000 for only one month last year abroad, do I pay SS/medicare? Would I be considered self-employed?
Take another senario: I lived abroad for 350 days, went to school during the year and made only $5000 during the summer break abroad, do I pay SS/medicare? What Fed income tax forms do I use? The 1040, 2555, anything else?

Answer 1

That depends. If the country where you were residing has a tax treaty with the US that addresses Social Security taxes and benefits then the treaty's terms would apply. Normally those treaties exempt you from US SS/Med taxes since the countries have similar taxes and benefit programs that you are paying in to.

If you were self-employed, however, you must pay the SS & Med taxes in most cases.

See the instructions for Schedule SE http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sse.pdf and IRS Pub 54 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf for further information.