Chrissywissy100

I have done a search to see if there is one floatinga round in the eather, but can only find Australian ones. Much is the same I am sure, but wanted to double check.

I am specifically think about the non-routine things you would do if you were just moving house in the same country.

IRS -- Do I have to contact the IRS and do something with Tax returns? I have had a look on their website, and found something about "Sailing / Departure permits" but its all gobboldy-gook to me!

CA DMV -- for driving licences / address change

Help please? I'm in a bit of a tizzy!

iaink

Might help, might not.... you may have to translate from the canadian if you cant find a US specific version...

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/To_Do_Lists-Canada

Englishmum

Are you a US citizen or currently holding a Green Card which you wish to retain? US citizens and Green Card holders must submit a tax return to the IRS each year as worldwide income is taken into account.

You would definitely need to file for taxes (hey, you might even get a nice refund!) for the current tax year - I'm not sure about your State tax, you would need to check locally. AFAIK there is some info on the IRS page of the US Embassy in London regarding paying Uncle Sam (although I think the first $91,400 is disregarded and you pay tax on income above that...but please do check!):

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/irsfeie.html

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/index.html

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/irstaxes.html (State tax)

You have to submit a tax return to the IRS if:

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/irswho.html

http://london.usembassy.gov/irs/irswho2.html



If you have a Green Card and wish to retain it, there are procedures you must follow, I will look it up if you need this info.

If you're not a US citizen or GC holder, then you just submit a final tax return.

Medical Records?

Dental Records?

Notifying credit card companies, banks, credit unions of change of address etc.

Forwarding of mail via USPS (get the form from your local Post Office).

You might want to take a look at the UK Yankee forums for American/Canadian expats living in the UK....they're bound to have some good suggestions!

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/

http://www.uk-yankee.com/articles/it...d-to-know#more


Hope this helps!

J.J

hello,

AFAIK, and as USC, we did not tell IRS that we were moving out of US. We will file our next tax return when the due time comes around, including our 'foreign' earnings and tax paid .

But we did talk to NC State tax and determine how we should notify them and be assured that we would be non-resident from the date we left.

Get a bill of sale if you sell your cars, even if the state law doesn't require it. Our car was suspect in hit-and-run by the new uninsured owner 2 days after he bought it - fortunately we could prove we were not the driver or the owner, but the other parties insurance chased us until we proved it.

Return your plates to DMV before you cancel insurance - in NC it was illegal to be presumed to own a car even merely by holding the plates if not the car itself without having insurance.

If you plan to transfer money from US to UK after you leave set up an arrangement and permissions before you leave. We set up an account with XE.com and needed to get a letter hand-signed by our US bank to approve XE to withdraw funds. Would have been a delaying nightmare to have done it from UK end. Make a test transfer before you leave US if you have a Pounds account to send it to. Consider a GBP offshore e.g. Isle of Man branch of UK bank for a destination if u do not have a GBP a/c already.

Cancel all insurances when you no longer need them, you may get a refund - be prepared this may come as US$ later when you are in UK, decide how you will cash them - we retained a small US a/c for these later transactions.
Cancel memberships such as Sams Club, AAA, and get refunds.

cancel all utility services.

Carry a list or last bills with account numbers, cust service phone numbers etc to UK with you so that you can write from there to cancel anything that didn't get fully closed before you left. (US business envelopes are 2mm too long to be used for normal UK postage rates - if you bring them then you have to trim a bit off them)

If you retain any accounts in US then set up online access.

We felt just the same when embarking on our plan to return, in a tizzy, but you got the right idea, start jotting stuff down, change and add you think of more, and the picture becomes clearer.
Give things priorities, do by dates, however you like, ours wasn't very formal. Some easier things we did asap and didn't even make it to the list. Do anything off the list as soon as you can, the more gets done = the shorter the list = the better you feel and the more able then with a clear mind to think of any last minute things and enjoy your last few days knowing you done it.

Did you hold a UK driving license previous - if so dig it out, otherwise as a US license holder you will have to take a UK test to get a UK license. We held onto our US licenses although don't remember what our intent was , spose we will send them back or they could be used by NC state to show we ought to still be treated as Tax residents.

best wishes

dunroving

Surely if you are already a UK license-holder you could simply apply for a replacement for a "lost" license if you needed to?

Chrissywissy100

Thanks all.

Not a USC.. Am a soon to be Ex- L2 visa holder.

Leaving in 6 weeks :s

selling stuff at moment to reduce shipping costs.. not an easy feat!

Am most concerned about doing things by the book as far as Taxes, federal and state, and anything else "offical" goes, as we will be trying to find a way to come back, so I really dont want any black XX's next to our names!

How easy is it really to do the Sailing/ Departure permit thingy? It looks like we would essentially be filing an early tax return? Has anyone had expereince of this? Hubby is VERY concerned that if we do this it will open us up to further IRS scrutiny (which I dont think we have anything to worry about since we have had accountants do our filing, and we have always paid anything owed)

I'll look into the plate surrendering for the cars, but I dont think that's how its done in CA. We bought a second hand car, and it came with its existing plates.

I already hold a UK driving licence so thats no bother, although the hubby will have to do his test etc in the UK!!!!! (I'll let you know when he's practising driving in the manual, so you can make sure you arent on the road!)

Good idea about etsting the money transfer before we leave. We have HSBC accounts in US and UK, and this is how we transferred money here, so I assume it would be the same process, but other way around!?

We have both changed our UK bank account adresses to my parents, and requested statements be sent there so we have some "proof of address" to get mobile phone contracts if nothing else!

Can anyone think of anything else?

nun

Depending on your residence status it's probably a good idea to sell any US mutual funds you have to realize the capital gains.

I'd send change of address to IRS, banks and other financial institutions.

Give yourself a bit of overlap between the end of your US health insurance and declaring that your resident in UK so you can get NHS coverage.

nun

Just as an aside, is there a UK arrivals check list. What forms does a UK citizen have to file with HMRC, immigration etc.

J.J

Hi Nun, and everyone else interested in a Check list for Upon return to UK:

If you have communicated with HMRC from abroad then send letter to that same place to advise of your return.

Advise National Insurance of your new address.

There was nothing to declare to immigration when we arrived, we just came in merely showing passport as we always did.

We went to our local tax office, there was no form or such to complete to say we were officially back. And they let us use the freephone to tell NI we were back and our new address.
There was also a need to speak to the Tax Coding division (by freephone again from the tax office) because DH is getting a small ex-military pension attracting a UK tax code, and since he would be working here in UK we wanted to make the salary as the prime income for the tax code to get the full allowance and not the small pension. We not yet sure this panned out right for we got numerous letters with different codes on them but it seems we getting the correct deductions from salary.
The NI update paid off, we had been making voluntary contributions from abroad, now we have a refund coming to us for excess amounts paid. Not sure if we would have got it if we had still been abroad but at least they had our current address to send it to.
(on that note, US Post Office has continued to forward letters on to us, but not sending junk mail - that plan seems to have worked out OK)

confusedenglishrose

Simple question what did you do at the US Post office to ensure smooth forwarding of mail. I see there are different pay options. Not sure if I have to pay and if so which is the best one?

J.J

USPS has online website option for within-USA change address forwarding, but for international it doesn't apply, download form PS 3575 or collect from PO, but have to take it to PO to file. File it 2 weeks or more before your change date.

I found this inUSPS website, searched FAQ for change address international

How do I file a Change of Address for an International address?

If you are moving to an International address outside of the United States, you will need to fill out the same Change of Address (COA) form (PS Form 3575) that is filed for a domestic move at your local Post Office™.

If you forget to submit a COA prior to moving to an International address, you can write a letter to your old Post Office in the United States and the Post Office now serving your new international address explaining the situation. Provide direction on how and where you need mail forwarded. The letter should also include as many details asked on the PS Form 3575 (Change of Address Form) as possible.


We didn't pay, is free service for 1 year, (unless it recently changed policy to get income)
Mail just comes routinely to us, by air, letter by letter with a forwarding address label stuck on it by USPS

dunroving

There was a lengthy thread on this in the US forum a couple of months back - you might be able to find it using Advanced Search. (probably use key words "mail forward")

Here it is, I guess it's not that long.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...highlight=mail

and another

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...il+redirection

confusedenglishrose

Thank you for the USPS info. I did get that form I was just skeptical since the form does not seem to easily take UK addresses i.e. no room for postal codes etc. Nice to hear that is the correct form so I will complete as best as possible and on the mail arriving.

Only 3 weeks to go today

tmi

We left CA in June and filed a 1040-C prior to leaving. This gave us the 'sailing permit'. All you're basically doing is letting the IRS know you're leaving the country, paying what you owe to that point, and promising to file a 1040-NR at the end of the year to finish everything up.

We went to the nearest IRS office with all our paperwork and were in and out within an hour - even though the person we were dealing with had no idea about the 1040-C and constantly had to get help to process everything.

paranoidandroid

I'm envious!