brokenhearted.

My husband of 10 years passed away suddenly at the age of 65 - months from retiring from federal employment. I am devastated but need to plan sensibly as i am currently in government provided housing in a remote area. I will have survivor benefit payments for the rest of my life and may or may not have to liquidate the financial savings vehicles that he set up. I was under the belief that at some point as a legal permanent resident i would not necessarily need to file tax returns to the IRS if all i was asking for would be a request for the us gov to not hold tax ? i apologize if this sounds incoherent - i am still in a daze as this unexpected turn of events happened on the 24th ... i wonder if i am jumping to far ahead ? lots of stuff still to sort.

christmasoompa

Hi, I'm so sorry for your loss.

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you'll get lots of help. I've moved your thread as it's a US issue rather than a UK one really but where are you now, are you in the UK? If so when did you last live in the US?

Hopefully our forum pros will get along to help you later.

penguinsix

Very sorry to hear of your recent loss.

Just for a point of clarification, are you currently residing in the United States or back in the UK? Are you currently working or have any other source of income? You may be in a situation where you won't owe any taxes, but may still be required to file (i.e. just some paperwork). We would probably need a few more details to provide some suggestions.

Perhaps after things have settled you could come back and provide us with some details and we can try to guide you or find the appropriate answers to your questions.

Once again sorry for your loss.

civilservant

Since you talk about 'Government subsidized housing' I am assuming you are in the US. Being as you are an LPR and resident in the US, then you have no choice but to file tax returns on your income unless it falls under the filing limit (currently $10,400)

This will remain the case as long as you a) remain in the US and b) remain an LPR or become a US Citizen.

I'm not quite sure what you are referring too regarding not having to pay tax, as penguinsix mentions about you can provide some more information?

Rete

Sincere condolences on the lost of your husband.

As others have stated, you will have to file an annual tax return as long as you are living in the US and have an income over a certain amount. Being a widow does not preclude you from the necessity of filing an income tax return. Even survivor benefits, i.e. social security benefits, are taxable and the IRS is not the one that withholds the taxes but social security administration and they only withhold taxes if you specify it. If you don't, then they won't withhold taxes.

Now if you are planning on taking his social security benefit, his government pension, his retirement accounts, etc. with you when you leave the US, if you want to stop the requirement to file an IRS 1040, then you would need to formally relinquish your green card after you have left the US.

It is early time for you and you are still heavily grieving the death of your husband, so perhaps it better for you to decide where you are planning to live in the future, i.e. return to your country or remain in the US, and then retain the services of an experienced accountant to help you manage your financial life. This would be absolutely necessary if you and your husband owned property and/or had taxable assets over a certain amount. As an LPR, your threshold for estate tax is different than that of a US Citizen. Also retaining a family practice attorney might not be a bad idea for you, as well, if you have no true knowledge of how to proceed.

mrken30

If you are on a low income you may get assistance with filing returns. A tax preparer may be able to tell you where to get assistance or call your local library. There are often volunteers that help people out.

durham_lad

Good tip, I used to be a VITA tax preparer working out of our local library where I lived in Texas

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/irs-tax-volunteers

You may be able to find a VITA center near you using the following site

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/find...-free-tax-prep

brokenhearted.

Thank you all for the support and answers. I have had some time away from the pc and trying to get things moving. We only resided where we lived due to my husbands job - hence gov. provided housing and i can see i wasn't very coherent on my post. My intent is to clear the situation over the next couple of months - dealing with vehicles, boats etc and investments that need name changes etc. Eventually, when i can get myself in a situation to be squared up with everything then i intend to move back to the UK. I have come to the conclusion that even giving up my green-card will mean I will have to find a tax expert familiar with both UK and USA taxing bodies as it looks like the investments(roth) will remain in the US and the survivor benefit I will receive as a result of my husbands job will be coming from the USA - I am not yet old enough to claim survivor benefit from my husbands social security record. So, I do understand I will pay taxes I was hoping to make it simpler - but I believe that it would be a massive mistake to draw down all the investments and have quite a tax burden ending up losing quite a chunk unnecessarily in the process - so i think finding a professional maybe the wiser move - even if it incurs a cost it has to be better than paying a huge chunk to the taxman. Once again - apologies for the incoherent panic post.