去年填1040A. In line 7 “wages ...”I input my whole salary ~$30,000 -- my annual income earned from the University (I am a postdoc). The box 1 in my W-2 form is blank. In that way, I need to pay ~$1000 tax. On the other hand, I can take $2000 (additional) child tax credit. So totally, I still took back ~$1000.
Now I feel there may be a mistake. I held J1 visa in 2004. My income was tax exempt. Now I feel I should input 0 in line 7 “wages ...”??? If in this way, I need not pay any tax, but on the other hand, I am not qualified to take any child tax credit. Please tell me the correct answer. How should I return back the money if there is really a mistake? Thank you very much.