littlemadam

Hi all!

I was wondering what the procedure is for declaring UK based welfare benefits on a US 1040 tax return. I am a dual UK/US cit (resident in the UK) in receipt of income support (since early 2010). How does one go about declaring this on a US tax return?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

J.J

Hello, welcome to BE.

This is my first year back in UK from US so I am facing similar questions as you and while I don't yet have answers here are my thoughts;

You need to report only taxable income, so the first thing to know is if your income (welfare benefits) is taxable and reportable under the USA system.

You are ahead of me in doing your US filing so I don't know exactly where it is reported on the form but Here is a suggestion:

Do you use Turbotax or TaxAct ?: payment is not required until you actually print off the finished Filing so it would be worth a dummy run through to see what the program suggests?

I have previously used Turbotax and know it has a data bank of questions / answers; and there is an option to post live questions and other users will post answers. This is where I plan to go for starters.

But you could get the official advice direct from the IRS in London. They have phone-in and walk-in help available for tax preparation questions. http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/index.html

bromleygirl

Income support isn't taxable income therefore I don't see that you would need to report it on your US tax return. It is a benefit not an income..

Now if you were receiving contributions based job seekers allowance which is considered taxable income then you would need to.