Jaxbar

Oh well I have just had a small heart attack reading this thread, I refiled 3 years of tax returns and paid interest and penalties when I discovered I should have declared the interest on my ISA after the tax preparer gave me wrong info, now I see they should have advised me re this. Well I have evidence that I in good faith refiled and payed and they obviously didnt know to file the form. I will be taking a trip to see them this weekend.

This article offers some hope...

http://blogs.forbes.com/janetnovack/...re-tax-cheats/

Marocco

I know someone who filed it a couple of years late, about 3 years ago. They had no problems.

Michelmas

It seems like you didn't do all the research necessary when becoming a PR.

"I got my "green card" stamp in Jan 2009.
I didnt actually "activate" it until July 2009 with a trip to the USA.
I didnt actually MOVE to USA until May 2010"

So after becoming a PR on Jan 2009 you didn't actually take up permanent residence until nearly a year and a half later. Do you know what the term permanent residence means? Consider this a penalty for not knowing what you should've known and stick to the rules in the future.

And with due respect, this entire threads stinks of, I didn't follow the rules, so who knows of any loopholes I can use to avoid paying the required penalty that I should rightly pay.

chopper40

To Marocco & Celticgrid...Thanks, your comments are assuring.

Bradford Lass...Wow thanks for the link that is hot off the press! It seems there is going to be another voluntary disclosure. I read the other articles that were linked also. There are going to be more changes to this reporting in 2011 with more paperwork needing to be filed along with 1040.

Michelmas...oh dear. FYI it was 10 months before I moved from becoming LPR. I don't have to explain my reasons for the delay to you, but for what its worth, you may have noticed the economy tanked? Perhaps you had the luxury of having a job to go to when you became LPR? I had no such luxury and I think I did pretty good job moving completely independently and seamlessly from British employment to USA employment in 10 months.

As far as not doing my research, thats what I paid a CPA to do. It seems mine didnt do his job properly.

Nobody is looking to cross the line from tax avoidance to tax evasion here. I pay my taxes. Your comments are completely unhelpful and it seems you are by your own admission a pedantic......

Orangepants

Sorry if I am hijacking the thread. Forgive my ignorance as I have no knowledge of tax issues as I have only ever worked offshore but who has to file FBAR's?
I entered the US in Dec 2010 as a O3 dependant so I am not working (no EAD) and hence not a taxpayer but my husband, we married in Oct 2010 and has been in the US for 8 years, will now file as married. Do I have to declare anything now or does he? I have accounts in Cayman and the UK. He is not a beneficiary or signatory on any of these accounts. Thanks.

ian-mstm

Generally, anyone who is resident in the US for tax purposes. Check with www.irs.gov.


Bingo!


You will both have to declare accounts held outside the US that have a value of (I believe) US$10K or more.

Ian

Jerseygirl

Just to make it clear...that doesn't mean single accounts of $10K or more. It means a total of $10K or more.

lansbury

IRS say:-

Who Must File an FBAR

United States Person: Refer to the definition of "United States person" found in the July 2000 version of the FBAR. Under this definition, the term "United States person" means (1) a citizen or resident of the United States, (2) a domestic partnership, (3) a domestic corporation, or (4) a domestic estate or trust.


So a US citizen living in the UK for example would have to file one would they not?

celticgrid

That was our understanding when we sent in the paperwork retrospectively. The years covered were when we were living outside the US.

celticgrid

Having tried to read around this subject, I 'learned' something - that may or may not be true. (It was on the interwebby, it could be total rubbish

When they talk about "quiet" disclosures, that seems to mean people going back and re-submitting a revised tax form with the 'I've got a foreign account' box checked, whereas it was left unchecked on the original return.

In our case no such action was necessary because no tax returns had been submitted during the period as my wife had insufficient income to warrant a return. Therefore at no point had we (she) provided the IRS with false information, even unwittingly. And there was no tax liability associated with the accounts concerned.

Incidentally, when did FBAR requirements commence? Are they relatively recent?

avanutria

That's what I'm wondering. I think the first I heard of it was when filing for the 2008 tax year.

lansbury

If you look at the quote I posted above from the IRS web site it makes a reference to the July 2000 version of FBAR. So at least that long ago.

The problem is the IRS have it in the business section of their web site. How many individuals look there.

Orangepants

I believe the requirements have always been around, circa the BSA 1970. But once The PATRIOT Act came about, enforcement became a big issue. I know about FBARs only from a business perspective in advising our hedge fund manager to complete FBARs on all his overseas accounts and that was in 2004.
I'd better get myself some light reading now I'm in the taxable world...

Michelmas

I beg to differ. As someone else told you on here, for tax purposes, you became a permanent resident in 2009.

And I guess you DIDN'T do you research, as YOU were the one that picked the CPA.

Tax avoidance and tax evasion is semantics and double talk. One happens to be legal and one doesn't. Both amount to the same thing, shirking your responsibilities and the consequences of your actions. This is neither tax avoidance or evasion. You're looking for ways to avoid paying the fines you rightly owe. Pay up, be a man, help the american economy like a good LPR

And for the record, yep, i'm pedantic, but I am also factual. I pick up on the small details that people gloss over and usually don't want attention brought to. You were lucky at POE that they didn't give you a hard time over it.

scrubbedexpat097

Wow, this all sounds so complicated and worrying.


Makes me so happy to be poor