Jonn

This is a question for those of you that have been living in the US a while,
ideally those that came from the UK. I'm not looking for specific tax advice, just
a general picture.

I'm travelling to the US in September, and should be filing for AOS in November after
the wedding. When it come to the 2001 tax returns, will I be paying tax on my UK
earnings too. Then, when it comes to my UK taxes in April of 2002, will I be paying
UK taxes on my US income for the UK tax year?

Basically, will I be paying double tax (bad) half and half (ok) or doing even better
than that?

And that's all before we worry about filing separately or together!

Jonn

Alvena Ferreira

Jonn wrote:
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

You need to get the "alien tax package" download from the IRS, there are treaty laws
that prevent you from paying double tax. Basically, you can opt to pay the US tax
instead of the UK tax, I think, and you might even get a rather generous tax return
for your first year in the US. Find a link to the tax info in the K-1 FAQ at:
http://www.k1faq.com/#6.12 Alvena
--
I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice; this is my personal opinion, posted
for the purpose of discussion only.
---
K-1 FAQ: http://www.k1faq.com Jonathan's K-1 pages:
http://pages.prodigy.net/alixtcat/immigrat.htm Doc Steen's Marriage Visa Information
Pages: http://www.mindspring.com/~docsteen/...o/visainfo.htm

Ameriscot

Don't worry about this. You will probably end up paying far less tax for this year.

First of all, UK taxes. If you are paying via PAYE, then you will be a refund as of April (your get your whole personal allowance even if you only work part year). You get this refund by filling in a tax return and they will send it to you fairly quickly. I'm not sure if you can do this before the end of tax year or not, but you can call up your tax inspector - the number is on the P11D and P45. Your tax liability for the UK is in effect until the day you leave the UK for good, so you can't possibly be taxed on US earnings.

US taxes. Presumably you will be working for only a few months of 2001? Since you will be married before Dec 31 2001, you can file jointly as the spouse of a US citizen. You don't have to worry about your INS status as you are dealing with the IRS. You get the married couples allowance and tax rates, and since your earnings will be small for the year (just your US income), you will end up with a much smaller tax bill - you will probably even get a refund as your wife may well have been overpaying since January.

Since you are filing a US return as a resident alien, you have to include the entire year's income, both UK and US earned. To prevent the double taxation you are worried about, the IRS allows you to deduct $74,000 (pro-rated for the number of months you were out of the US - so you can deduct approx. two-thirds of this if you are out of the US from Jan to Aug (you have to count the days and account for holidays in the US earlier in the year too)) of your foreign *earned* income. If you earned more than around this £30k figure, then you can subtract the foreign taxes you paid from your US tax bill. The US system has full tax relief on mortgage interest payments and this covers property in the UK too - there will be a very nice refund waiting for you if you are able to claim this.

Good luck!

Shawn

    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >

Just a quick note in here... you are able to claim back tax that has been paid for
the 2001 tax year without waiting until 2002. Here's what you do:

First, take a look at http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/taxback/claiming.htm ...it
explains that you should go to your local tax office or Inland Revenue information
centre (I came from a piddly little market town in Hertfordshire and it has a tax
info centre).

Explain to them that you will be leaving the country for good before the end of the
tax year, and you will only be returning after that for family visits (not for over
90 days in a year). They should give you a form (P85, it says something like "Leaving
United Kingdom, Claiming Back Taxes Paid" or something like that on the top).

Just fill in the form and make sure you have your P45 from finishing work in the UK.
Include parts 2 and 3 of the P45 with this form and send it off to the HM Inspector
of Taxes address that they should have stamped on the top of the P85.

You have the option on the P85 to have any tax owed credited to the British (or
Channel Island) bank account of your choice, or to have a cheque sent to you. I'm
going for the bank credit and I check my details periodically to see if it has been
credited. I left the UK just after earning the non-taxable wage, so I'm looking to
get almost all my tax back. Lucky ol' me, I say.

Unless you've earned a stupidly large amount in the tax year to date, you're not
liable to pay the IRS a red cent for earnings made outside the US.

Good luck,

--
ø¤°`°¤Ã� �¸,¸¸¸,ø¤� �‚°`°¤ø,¸Â ¸Â»Â«Â¸,ø¤� �‚°`°¤ø,¸Â ¸,ø¤°`°¤ ø,¸¸Â-
¸,ø¤°`°¤ ø,¸¸,ø¤Â °`°¤ø,¸ø� �‚¤Â°`°¤ø Shawn Seabrook.
http://www.orlando-seabrook.freeserve.co.uk This signature set seems to have reduced
my spam. Maybe if everyone does it we can defeat the email search bots.
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] I do not fear computers. I fear the
lack of them. (Isaac Asimov.) ø¤°`°¤Ã� �¸,¸¸¸,ø¤� �‚°`°¤ø,¸Â ¸Â»Â«Â¸,ø¤� �‚°`Â-
°Â¤Ã¸,¸¸,ø� �‚¤Â°`°¤ø, ¸Â¸Â¸,ø¤°` °¤ø,¸¸,à ¸Â¤Â°`°¤ø, ¸ø¤°`°Â ¤Ã¸

Jb

Ameriscot wrote:
    >
    >
    >
[ ... ]

    >
    >
    >
    >

As of tax year 2000 this was raised $76,000