Hi all, I’m wondering if anyone can give me guidance on what forms and procedures to complete now that I am back to stay in the UK? I am getting so stressed at the thought that I’ve forgotten something important or am just ignorant of the proper procedures. Hopefully many of you have already done this and can advise!

I was in the US for 25 years, married to an American for many of those years until he passed in 2020. I have a green card which I plan to relinquish. I believe I need to complete form 1407, but where do I send it? (I wish to pay any taxes here in the UK moving forward).

I already collect SSA survivor benefits and have been trying to contact the FBU for months to get these payments transferred to the UK and into my UK bank account, and change my address etc, but there’s no way to get through on the phone. Emails to them generate the same auto response with form SSA-21 attached. I can’t complete some of the questions on this form and want to get guidance but I can’t get to speak to anyone…

I am fully paid up with US taxes including last year 2024, and am hovering around the tax threshold now anyway as I’m not working / earning income other than the SSA payment. Do I still need to complete an exit tax form - I think it’s form 8854?

Is there anything else I’m supposed to do? The last few months have flown by and after the stress of moving, I admit I’ve had mental paralysis. I have managed to accomplish some things. I have a UK bank account, credit card, paying rent and council tax and have a HMRC gateway number, so I believe I am already regarded as a resident here in the UK. Many thanks in advance for any input.

All details on how to file the I-407 are here - https://www.uscis.gov/i-407

And info on the exit tax, so you can see if you're subject to it or not - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/inte...patriation-tax

And you may want to hang on a bit just to be sure you don't want to return to the US? It would be awful if you changed your mind and then couldn't go back again. You'll pay tax wherever that's due no matter what your immigration status is i.e. somebody who owns a rental property in the UK would pay tax on that income there even if they weren't UK resident.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks so much for the response. I’m definitely here to stay now, there’s more here for me than in the US these days, but thanks for the good advice. As I understand it, exit taxes apply to people of a reasonably high income or net worth and I’m not quite in that bracket. I’m just trying to figure out the language on the IRS website, and why they need to make it so complicated I just don’t know! Do we only complete form 8854 if we give up our citizenship or LTR, or if we leave the country? My accountant certainly didn’t advise me of such a form.

Form 8854 is for those who renounce citizenship / LPR status, not if you just leave the country. You'd submit 8854 with the tax return for the year in which you renounce - so not the year you leave the US, the year you file your I-407 and return your Green Card (remember that as a Green Card holder you are required to file US taxes whether you are living in the US or not.) Even if you let your GC expire, you're still considered a LPR for tax purposes so expatriation is an important step to 'legally' exit the US federal tax system. If you do an online search for things like Who Files 8854 or Exit Tax you'll find several resources that explain things a bit more clearly than the IRS site (and a few that don't.) The criteria for being a covered expatriate (ie subject to exit tax) are either (a) average annual tax liability greater than $206k over the previous five years or (b) net worth more than $2M (this includes pensions, 401k etc) or (c) if you're not up to date with all of your federal tax obligations for the previous five years. You need to return form 8854 even if you are not a covered expatriate; and even if you are not required to file a US tax return that year.

Thanks so much for helping to clarify this. I suspected that was the case but I appreciate the confirmation and straight forward explanation. I’ve been feeling like a bit of a dunderhead trying to unravel all the official language 🙂

Many of us have gone through the same pain so you are in good company here. My current circle of hell is my first HMRC self-assessment...... But I'm just assuming that first time of anything is probably the worst so everything should be 'easier' after January.

I use an accountant for my self asssessment. It is not expensive and well worth the piece of mind.

Same with me, though after dealing with the IRS and US tax forms, the HMRC and UK tax forms I found many times over better,

Good to know. I've just started working with an accountant to get me through the HMRC portion so hopefully it will all start to make sense soon.....

Since I've leaving the US soon I'm just dipping my toes into the murky tax waters:

i) I'm a GC holder (along with my wife), leaving the US before the end of November 2025. I'm planning on revoking the GC immediately - or least sending it off with the necessary i-407 form before the end of 2025, so hopefully my 2025 US tax returns will be the last (no US income after I leave).

ii) I'm planning to have a HMRC split year for tax - so probably make 1 January 2026 the 'official' UK return (okay, maybe not precise - but would they quibble?).

iii) Key question - so far my wife and I have done joint US tax returns - can this be done in the final year, or do we have to do separate ones? (Probably affects the 8854 exit tax form too).