brokenhearted.

My tax preparer has sent me a copy of the tax return he is ready to submit once i sign it but I have had a sudden realization that I would imagine the IRS will require proof that I became UK resident in August 2018 - and I am not sure what would constitute proof?

As I live with a friend who does not charge rent the only thing I could provide is the ticket stub for the flight from Seattle to London HR ! I have been in a bit of a daze for most of 2018 ( resettling and bereavement) so the normal things people do I have been slow to complete. Anyone got any experience of what would satisfy this situation - I am working on the theory the IRS do not just take your word for it though I see nothing on the tax return that indicates they require proof.

Am i getting paranoid?

theOAP

In this particular situation, they do take your word for it.

The first page of your 1040 will give your local address (street, town) and the important bit is the additional Schedule 6, Foreign Address. It will list United Kingdom and the county plus post code. That's it. You sign the form under the penalties for perjury so that will suffice.

Is your green card still active or have you cancelled it? Remember, in your case, Form 8854 might still be required once you sign out of the US officially. Be sure your tax preparer is aware.

brokenhearted.

Thanks OAP.... once i had more time to think about it -who would claim to live in UK with a 20% base tax rate as opposed the much lower rate I would be if i was in the US!

I totally forgot to to hand back the green card and I will be sure to do this - though what I read regarding expatriation the time you physically leave the US is the day you are considered to have expatriated ( though I have since found out that the type of annuity I receive is address in the treaty - as a UK citizen it is only taxed in the UK - the citizenship of the recipient matters on this one - had I been American it would have been the US)

I have considered the expatriation exit paperwork and to be honest, apart from the chore of filing the tax return I can avoid double taxation under the treaty so I will discuss this with the tax accountant once things settle - it may turn out to be a case of how annoying the paperwork becomes. Thank you for your reply - things ( mostly my anxiety and panic modes) have settled - I am less inclines to keep myself awake a night worrying about the tax issues than i use to be.

durham_lad

I can say that we, and our son a year later, did nothing to prove that we were tax resident in the UK after we returned. We simply filed our returns with our overseas address. As theOAP says, why would the IRS think we would fib in order to intentionally pay more taxes. Having said that, the total UK taxes we pay are less than the health insurance premiums we were paying or would be paying now. My old employer still sends me the retiree health insurance options each year in case I want to sign us up, and the premiums and deductibles keep on rising way above normal inflation.