Dogbyte

Ta muchy Ray, but they weren't included lol. Thanks to everyone including P and V who kindly replied(PM)but may I explain further.
We brought nothing with us apart from clothes and a bank a/c.Everything we have bought has been in the US to start our experience,so the real question was can we claim for anything in connection with those items ?(from furniture to work stuff involving wife's work?)
Is there any literature where it itemises for such a move.All I have found on the IRS is about moving from the US not TO the US. Someone must in the past, have faced a simiar situation.Again Thanks for any info. Just point me in the right direction, so to speak( ps... not back to the UK) LOL

BigDavyG

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

When I moved I claimed nothing on this side, but I got all my tax paid (about 4 months) in the UK. In hindsight that may not have been a great move, but got me a few quid nonetheless.

dbj1000

Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT!

So H&R Block "Premium" screwed me on that too, and it's been over 3 years since we moved. I thought my saga with using a tax "professional" for my first year's taxes was resolved. Apparently I lost a whole lot of money by not claiming for my relocation costs.

I'm now seriously going to look at getting the money back from H&R Block in a small claims case.

dunroving

Did you pay the extra for the H&R Block "guarantee"? Can't remember the exact details but essentially it covers you if they screw up ...

... HOWEVER, when you first moved to the US, weren't you NR for tax purposes? If so, I think you can't file schedule A anyway ... sorry, it's been a while since I was in a position to figure all this stuff out ... it may be that if you filed 1040NR, you could't claim for relocation expenses anyway

When I moved to the US in 2001, I was still classed as resident for tax purposes (because I had only been away for 12 months), so I filled in the regular 1040, and filed Schedule A (including claim for all my relocation expenses - despite what the H&R Block guy told me).

dbj1000

Yes, I took the "guarantee", and used it when they completely f***ed me on their first, second and third drafts of my return. If I had accepted their first draft, it would have cost me >$10,000 in lost tax rebate.

What I don't know is whether I can apply the guarantee now, almost 5 years later.

And yes, I was resident for tax purposes based on the "substantial presence test", although even if you do not meet those criteria you can choose to be resident for tax purposes if it works out better for you.

EDIT: I just looked, and the guarantee allows you to refuse to pay for the return preparation (which I already did) if you're unsatisfied, or says that H&R Block will pay to defend any mistakes in your return if the IRS find them. The Guarantee does not cover them failing to get you a deduction that you're entitled to.

However, since they were clearly incompetent to the point of recklessness, I'm already looking at taking them to small claims court. By my reckoning they may have cost me ~$3,000 in lost refund because they told me "foreign nationals can't claim relocation".

Dogbyte

It appears that I may or may not be able to claim anything or a little, but at least someone may benefit from the thread....Best of Luck dbj1000.Let us know.

notacrime

I benefited from the thread, we're moving back to the US this year and I hadn't though about doing this until now.

meauxna

Are they the ones who advertise that you can bring your return in for a free check-over for missed deductions? IE, returns that another firm prepared.
Might be less hassle than small claims court.

Job related relocation?

chartreuse

We've benefited too - thanks OP Our moving costs look likely to be pretty hefty and it's good to know we can deduct them.

notacrime

We meet the requirements, I checked. I won't be using H&R Block.

chartreuse

As I read it, it doesn't need to be. You just have to work when you get there.

dbj1000

One of the problems I encountered was who the hell can you use in this situation?

After that first nightmare encounter with H&R Block (the saga is many pages long - I once recounted it here) that almost cost me $10,000 and a full IRS audit, I still wasn't confident enough in my own abilities the next year, and went looking for alternative tax prep help.

I tried Jackson Hewitt. After 45 minutes in one of their branches, during which time they kept sending different employees to talk to me about my "complicated" return, the last one (who was "the only qualified CPA in the branch" and the manager) told me they couldn't help me. Just that. "We can't help you."

Then I called around a few local CPAs. After many, many hours wasted on the phone I concluded they were all either a) complete crooks who would cobble together some half-assed return and then let me hang in an IRS audit or b) honest enough to tell me that they had no idea how to handle a return involving foreign earned income, non-standard deductions, overseas property sale etc.

In the end I gave up and prepared my own return, and have ever since. The IRS website is actually a really good, organized site and makes finding answers to reasonably complex questions quite easy. Combine that with TurboTax or one of the other good tax prep software packages, and you can piece together everything you need to file an accurate return.

In fact in 99% of cases I'm pretty sure that TurboTax Deluxe or Premier will handle all situations that you might throw at it... with the possible exception of that first year after you emigrate, when you're dealing with a partial tax year and taxes paid in the UK, wages earned in the UK and all that fun stuff!

dbj1000

For those of you who have relocated within the past year, what you need to find is a CPA who can prove to you that they have experience filing taxes for people with foreign income, tax and relocation complications.

Back in 2005 I talked on the phone to the people at Global Tax Network, and they seemed very well informed. However, I chickened out from using them for various reasons. Mostly because they're not local, so you can only talk on the phone. Also, by the time I found them, I was already through that difficult first year.

I've recommended them here a few times since, but I've never heard if anyone used them. Certainly from their website and their description on the phone, they specialize almost exclusively on tax returns for recent expats, people on overseas assignment here and other complex foreign tax issues.

I'd say they're worth talking to if you have; substantial tax presence outside the US in 2007 (i.e. less than 180 days in the US during the tax year), foreign eared income in 2007, taxes paid in the UK that may be deductible (e.g. council tax), mortgage interest paid in the UK or rental income... etc.

Whoever you end up using, you need to learn about your tax situation too, so you can spot if things are really wrong. Be particularly aware that you can exclude a large amount of foreign earned income (up to $87,600 this year) from US taxes because of the US/UK tax treaty. Also, if you're resident for tax purposes in the US in 2007, you may be able to deduct things like mortgage interest, mortgage repayment penalties, childcare costs etc. that you paid in the UK from your US taxes. It's the latter that H&R Block really screwed up, thinking that because I was foreign I couldn't claim deductions for foreign items that a US citizen could claim.

Patrick Hasler

You don't need anyone but yourself !

When I came here I called my tax office back in the UK, they mailed me a form, I filled it in and returned it, got a refund from the UK within a month

No fee's ... no legal rip off, no tax accountant charges

dbj1000

You claimed your relocation expenses from the UK tax system, not the IRS?