How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

Hi,

this forum helped me in the past and I hope it's ok to ask again, although I'm not an expat anymore, and not british, too :D

I am German and lived and worked in the USA on a working visa from 2001 to 2007. Since then, I'm back in Germany.

I now received a large sum of Money which needs to be taxed, but the payer didn't withhold any taxes :(

So now I have the following problem: I'd like to pay my taxes to the IRS, but I don't have a us bank account anymore. EFTPS is only with an US bank account. They also offer Payment by credit card through some service providers, but I'm not sure of the following:

1) would this work with a german Credit card
2) would they get the whole sum they are entitled to or would there be any fees withheld so I'd have to initiate a 2nd payment in the future to pay the remaining balance?

Also, I'd like to use that option only if nothing else works, because the service providers charge a high fee ehich would amount to a couple of hundreds of dollars in addition to my tax payment :frown:

Any advice would be great!
Thanks!!!

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

Are you sure that there are, in fact, taxes to be paid? That isn't always the case.

Ian

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

My thoughts too. Based on the very limited information in the OP, if taxes are due, they are more likely due in Germany.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

+1

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

Assuming that US taxes are due, I'm pretty sure that payment can be made at a US Consulate. This is often handled by the "ACS" people in the Consulate [Even though you are not an American Citizen, this is the type of thing handled by ACS].

To the others, OP did not mention how he came into the money -- if it is US sourced income, then it is subject to US taxes even if OP is not a US resident. The difference with US residents is that they are taxable on WORLDWIDE income, not just US based.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

"US sourced"?

If the work was done in the US, that would almost certainly be true, but if the work was done in Germany, or a third country, by a non-US citizen/ non PR, and merely paid for by a US corporation, then surely no US taxes would be payable. :confused:

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

Even if it was US sourced dividend or capital gains, normally that is not taxable by the IRS for a non resident except in a few cases.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

US dividends for non residents are taxed at 30%.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

No, they are withheld at 30% if you don't file form w-8ben. If you file form w-8ben, taxes aren't withheld. However if you don't file form w-8ben, usually you get a full refund when you file a tax return.

It's complicated because a legal permanent resident could still be liable for US taxes on property that was owned in the US prior to leaving the US and becoming a non resident.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

I wish you were right. Dividends are taxed 30%, no capitol gains tax. Bank interest no tax. (that is when filing w-8 forms.) If I am wrong I will owe you several beers.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

If you don't live in a tax treaty country, then that may be true.

If applicable, claim a reduced rate of, or exemption from, withholding as a resident of a foreign country with which the United States has an income tax treaty.

www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/iw8ben.pdf

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

I think the UK resident treaty rate goes to 15%. Sadly I am a Brit that is resident in Bahamas therefore 30% on dividends.
Still buy you a beer though.:)

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

When you are in one of those countries, you get screwed. Move to Switzerland which has an income tax treaty with the US and they don't tax capital gains but not sure how they tax qualified dividends which are taxed the same as capital gains in the US (normally 15% or less unless above $400K. total income)

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

J Fong and I have always been amused by the British use of the word "surely." :)

OP doesn't give enough in the way of facts. Tax law is out of my bailiwick.

Re: How to pay taxes from abroad?
 

Sorry for not replying earlier.

I'm a little bit amused about the comments "the OP doesn't give enough information", because everybody is discussing if I owe any taxrs or not, when my original question was, how to transfer money to the IRS. The question of owing or not owing taxes has been thouroughly investigated and i'm sure, I do owe the taxes.

Since I have no problem with satisfying everyones curiosity :p : I withdrew my money from my 401K account completely and I have to pay the 10% penalty for early withdrawal. (The regular income taxes are indeed owed to Germany due to the tax traety)

I'd be very grateful for some hints on how to pay my taxes to IRS.

Thanks!