washsaint

2nd year in, I was going to try and file tax returns myself. Because we have a UK rental property I got a bit lost and went back to Pete Newton.

Thank goodness I did - having seen the final returns that are being submitted I'm so glad I used someone who knows what they are doing. As much as anything, we've got more of a rebate coming than if we had used Turbo Tax.

I would personally recommend Pete to anyone who has a tax situation similar to ourselves. Sure has taken the pain out of filing taxes!

Hope this has not contravened any Board rules, etc. but Pete has been so helpful and responsive I thought I would share it with others.

penguinbar

I totally agree. This will be our third year with Pete. I highly recommend him!

lj2

Who is he?

penguinbar

Pete is member of BE who is an accountant who is certified and very knowledgeable about taxes in the UK and the US.

prdurrant

Can you give me Pete's details please?

Bob

http://bit.ly/wCMSGB

SATX John

Question on taxes, is their FAQ or sticky thread on pension taxes in the US? My mother in law has a private pension in the UK, so we are looking at her tax implications if she immigrates. Dos she pay double taxes or does the US system allow her to deduct any UK point of origin taxes?

Thanks

Bob

There are plenty of threads on the subject you could probably quite easily, recent ones too which cover some of your questions....and you'll find there is a tax treaty so you won't get taxed twice, unless it's a very high sum, but it isn't the taxes that is the fun, it's the IRS filing requirements.

SATX John

Very Helpful. Will keep digging through threads.

Thanks

penguinbar

Peter Newton
www.britishexpatstax.com

prdurrant

Penguinbar, I ended up taking your advice and using Pete. He did a great job and is a lovely chap

nun

If she becomes US resident she will only be taxed in the US. She will file a US-Individual-2002 with the IRS who then forward it to HMRC and the UK will not deduct tax from her UK pension payments. The same goes for UK state pension.

How she has to deal with the personal pension on US taxes will depend how the pension is structured. If she has bought an annuity and is receiving payments it should be fairly simple and she can just enter the income on line 21 of the 1040 and describe it as "foreign pension". It won't be FBAR reportable, but might need to be included on FATCA.

As an aside what would your MIL do about health insurance?

penguinbar

Glad to hear it!

SATX John

Thanks on the info. She will be a perm res GC initially. Her Health will be covered through an investment inturment we are turning into a Helth Savings account.

On the private pensions working with Lloyds and their international account system. Also, our bank (USAA) allows us to open accounts etc... for her as a sponsor we may use that once the pros and cons are done.

Thanks Again.

nun

Have you costed out US health insurance for your MIL? Having an HSA is a good idea, but I'd want to know about the cost and even availability of coverage.

I would talk to a US international tax expert about the personal pension. In my experience foreign banks know very little about US taxes.