bbrooke

First of all hello! I have just joined to ask this but have been lurking for a while. A bit about me :

I am a dual UK/US Citizen thanks to my mum who is from Kentucky. I currently work in London as a Desktop Support Technician for a national charity, and in September/October I renewed my Passport which was only an emergency one that had expired when I was 18 (Issued when I was 17).

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, I have looked through the wiki but want to check if I need to fill in any other forms or apply for an SSN for the tax return. I have had 1 full time job which is my current one in the last 3 years which I think I would have to file a return for. Prior to that I was on an apprenticeship which paid about $6000 per year which I believe is below the threshold.

I'd like to take this opportunity now that the IRS are allegedly allowing citizens abroad to catch up with overdue returns to do so. Would I be able to follow the Wiki and submit the 1040 and 2555 forms, and do I need a SSN first? If so, am I likely to have to pay any penalties?

Thank you for your help, and please let me know if I need to provide any more info.



Ben

jeffreyhy

You need a SSN or an ITIN in order to file a US income tax return. You are not eligible to obtain an ITIN since your are eligible for a SSN. So, you need to get a SSN.

Regards, JEff

nun

You should apply for a SSN as a US citizen so you can file your taxes.

You are right that $6000 annual income is below the individual tax filing threshold of $9500.

There is no penalty for late filing of US taxes, but if you owe any tax you will be charged interest. For UK residents the FEIE and tax credits usually mean that there is no US tax due and hence there will be no interest due either.

Areas where you should be careful are if you ever have more than $10k in the sum of your foreign accounts you have to file an FBAR form and strictly speaking there are fines for late filing of those, but if you owe nothing the IRS says it won't impose those fines on late FBARs.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnov...penalty-break/

Also UK pensions, stocks and shares ISAs and tracker funds require quite complicated US tax filings.

Jscl

Do you have your proof of US citizenship sorted out (you mention renewing a passport but not whether it is the UK or UK one)? You will need to provide proof in order to get an SSN. This link might help to get the SSN:

http://london.usembassy.gov/cons_new...q_fbu_ssn.html
(scroll down a bit)

[deleted rest of my message as nun had replied]

Bob

Apart from the tax, have you also filed with the SS? Presuming you're a bloke under 26.

Bink

I got a bit of a slapped wrist for failing to do just this (I got my first US passport when I was 27) but nothing more.

The FBAR filing is the important one if you meet the requirements (more than $10,000 in accounts outside of the US at any given time in any given US fiscal year).

bbrooke

Thanks for all the replies guys, much appreciated A few more details regarding this :

I am 26 and was so when I renewed the passport - 27 in a couple of months. Is filing with SS different to tax returns? Apologies, all this is fairly new as I saw the IRS relaxing overseas penalties and decided to see if it applied - which it did! Bit shocked I didn't know all this already! Anyway, I don't have any overseas accounts only a current and savings account with not much in and definitely less that $10,000. I also do have the citizenship sorted, the US passport is up to date as of September 2012 (Just checked).

Thanks again for all your help.

jeffreyhy

Very different. SS is Selective Service - registering for the draft that hasn't been held since just after the Vietnam war. Still have to register for it, though, if you're male, just in case it's ever reinstated.

Regards, JEff

nun

Yes SS is Selective Service, ie The Draft. All US males between 18 and 26 have to sign up for it. If you are over 26 and have not signed up you can't register anymore and might had trouble getting Federal jobs and benefits. Probably not an issue for you.

SSA is the Social Security Administration where you'll get your SS#

IRS.....well I assume you know about those folks.

Your UK current and savings accounts ARE FOREIGN ACCOUNTS as will be many UK pensions, ISAs etc so be careful. Remember all your income must be included on your US taxes; so that includes wages, any interest you get on you savings account, ISA gains etc etc.

Bob

It's a bit more important if one plans on going to school and getting any federal loans though

bbrooke

Hi again everyone, sorry for disappearing for a while but I finally have my SSN and am looking to sort out these tax returns finally. Can anyone tell me if there are a set number of years of returns I need to fill, or as I have only had 1 "real" job in the last 3 years is that all I have to worry about? Thanks again for all the advice, it is greatly appreciated!

Jscl

What sort of income do you have, is it just from your job?

I would download a 1040 form from here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040.pdf (goes straight to the pdf of the form) and see what income/expenses you have in each of the categories on the front page. If you only have a couple of categories, e.g. wages and bank interest, then you maybe could consider doing the form yourself. If you have a lot of complicated stuff it might be worth hiring someone to do it for you this time and then doing it yourself when you're more familiar with where things go.

Just my suggestion, but I'd do this year's form, see if you have taxes to pay... if you don't (most likely from what you've said) then at least you know you're likely to not owe any in previous years.

JAJ

The IRS normally work with a 3 year statute of limitations, as provided by law. This is extended to 6 years in certain circumstances. However, if there is fraud (unusual), or if you don't file (much more common) the statute of limitations never runs out. It's unusual for the IRS to look back more than 3-6 years, especially if you have little or no income, but if you have never filed for a given tax year they always can.

How many prior years you should file for is fact and circumstance dependent. If your income was very low, you may not even need to file. Normally, it's somewhere between 3-6 years. And make sure you file for 2012.

Regarding Selective Service, if you did not register and have passed your 26th birthday (if male) then there may be consequences in future of your non-registration. From the Selective Service website:

The benefit agency official handling your case, not the Selective Service, will determine whether you have shown that your failure to register was not a knowing and willful failure to register. The final decision regarding your eligibility for the benefit that you seek will be made by the agency granting the benefit (for example, for student financial aid, this would be the school’s financial aid officer). In some agencies, an appeals process is available.

bbrooke

Thanks for the info again guys, I'm considering hiring someone to help me sort the form out the first time to make sure it's done properly. Seeing as this is my first full time job I can't see that I would have any taxes to pay - I will let you know how I get on. If anyone has any further info/recommendations please feel free to post