I switched from J-1 to H-1B and payroll kept treating me like a J worker. Is that a tax problem?
The file transition happened quickly on the immigration side, and I suspect payroll just kept the old logic because it was already set up and nobody wanted to disturb a functioning system. But the IRS pages make it sound like the J-1 and H-1B tax consequences are materially different, especially for FICA and day counting.
I want to know whether that kind of carryover treatment is dangerous. If the visa switch should have triggered a fresh review of residency, FICA, and withholding instead of a quiet rollover, I would rather correct it now than let the wrong assumption bleed into the whole year.
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