Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
Jan 7th 2020, 3:05 pm
#16
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
One point worth noting is that "age 18" is not the determining factor for whether you have to file taxes. "Income" is the determining factor. Does she have income (jobs, dividends, capital gains, etc)? They don't really care how old you are.
While I'm not fully versed in the US-Canada tax treaty, I should note as a general rule if your daughter has income over $12,000 she needs to "file" a tax return. She would not need to "pay" any taxes as she would be under the foreign income exclusion or whatever section of the US-Canada tax treaty, but she still would have to fill out the forms.
The tricky bit is this (and this also applies to your wife): while ~$90,000 in foreign income can be 'excluded' from your overall income for US tax purposes (and thus, eliminate the need to pay taxes), to qualify for this exclusion you MUST file the tax return. If you don't file, you don't get the exclusion. If you don't get the exclusion, you could have a tax liability. It's a kind of paperwork shuffle, but basically, you need to file even if you don't owe taxes, especially if overseas. Note also if she is filing taxes that may affect your wife's tax filing if she claims her as a 'dependent'.
In addition, please note the requirement for FBAR filings for US citizens abroad, again also not age dependent. If she has > $10,000 USD in total in all of her bank account combined where she has signing authority (i.e. a joint checking account with you, a personal savings account she has, etc) than she needs to file an FBAR each year listing all of her bank accounts. Yet another annoying form.
Here is some more information, including the dreaded FATCA filing (which I didn't list for now but will also one day be something she will need to deal with).
https://www.taxesforexpats.com/artic...or-minors.html
While I'm not fully versed in the US-Canada tax treaty, I should note as a general rule if your daughter has income over $12,000 she needs to "file" a tax return. She would not need to "pay" any taxes as she would be under the foreign income exclusion or whatever section of the US-Canada tax treaty, but she still would have to fill out the forms.
The tricky bit is this (and this also applies to your wife): while ~$90,000 in foreign income can be 'excluded' from your overall income for US tax purposes (and thus, eliminate the need to pay taxes), to qualify for this exclusion you MUST file the tax return. If you don't file, you don't get the exclusion. If you don't get the exclusion, you could have a tax liability. It's a kind of paperwork shuffle, but basically, you need to file even if you don't owe taxes, especially if overseas. Note also if she is filing taxes that may affect your wife's tax filing if she claims her as a 'dependent'.
In addition, please note the requirement for FBAR filings for US citizens abroad, again also not age dependent. If she has > $10,000 USD in total in all of her bank account combined where she has signing authority (i.e. a joint checking account with you, a personal savings account she has, etc) than she needs to file an FBAR each year listing all of her bank accounts. Yet another annoying form.
Here is some more information, including the dreaded FATCA filing (which I didn't list for now but will also one day be something she will need to deal with).
https://www.taxesforexpats.com/artic...or-minors.html
Jan 7th 2020, 3:20 pm
#17
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
What's NOT permitted is for you to force your philosophical and political beliefs onto your child, which you would be doing if you took HER citizenship away from HER.
Renunciation must be a conscious act, and that's a decision that she can make for herself when she is old enough - you don't get to decide to take that away from her before she is old enough to even comprehend the ramifications of that decision.
As Pulaski has mooted, there's probably very little consequences to just leaving this well alone and doing nothing until your daughter is old enough for it to really matter...
Jan 7th 2020, 3:26 pm
#18
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
This is one of those threads that makes me wonder if the internet was just designed to cause an argument over everything.
Is she a USC? Yes. Do USCs need to file a tax retirn on worldwide income? Yes
Will it matter if the US doesn't know she exists? Probably not.
Is she a USC? Yes. Do USCs need to file a tax retirn on worldwide income? Yes
Will it matter if the US doesn't know she exists? Probably not.
Jan 7th 2020, 5:43 pm
#19
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
Basically a few points on being a US Citizen overseas:
1) Taxes, as noted.
2) FBAR, as noted
3) FATCA, which is a real pain but might not be an issue.
4) Military conscription. At the moment women do not have to register for military service at age 18, but men do. No one has been conscripted ('drafted') in over 40 years so not a real big deal, but a form nonetheless. Note: recent court cases are saying women will have to register. More on this in the coming years.
5) Enter and exit the USA on a USA passport. Techncially, as an American, she is not to enter the USA on a foreign passport. Another one of those 'well they might not know' kind of things.
6) She may be called to jury duty one day (unlikely if not resident).
One final point that isn't really an issue now but maybe one day: if your daughter owns > 10% of a foreign company (even so much as her and a friend opening a babysitting company in Canada) she can have a very very onerous tax reporting form. When she gets entrepreneurial and looks to start a company, there are some added tax filing requirements being an American abroad.
Jan 7th 2020, 5:56 pm
#20
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
Given that jury service is "local" it is unlikely that a court would even mail out a jury summons to a non-US, or even out of state, address. And per the above noted link between potential jurors and the drivers license database, I think you'd have a problem even trying to register a non-US address for a US state drivers license.
Last edited by Pulaski; Jan 7th 2020 at 6:28 pm.
Jan 7th 2020, 6:26 pm
#21
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
Given that AFAIK US states (always?) register potential jurors on a database linked to driver registration, I don't see how anyone could be "accidentally" summoned for jury duty if they don't currently, and have never lived in the US.
Given that jury service is "local" it is unlikely that a court would even mail out a jury summons to a non-US, or even out of state, address. And per the above noted link between potential jurors and the drivers license database, I think you'd have a problem even trying to register a non-US address for a US state drivers license.
Given that jury service is "local" it is unlikely that a court would even mail out a jury summons to a non-US, or even out of state, address. And per the above noted link between potential jurors and the drivers license database, I think you'd have a problem even trying to register a non-US address for a US state drivers license.
Jan 7th 2020, 6:30 pm
#22
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
That just sounds like a SNAFU! My wife was excused jury duty when we moved two counties away and was no longer resident in the local court's jurisdiction.
Jan 7th 2020, 7:50 pm
#23
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
I knew it existed, by where did the law on Global income come from? Seems almost the antithesis of the founding of the Country to me. I have no plans to Naturalise, and neither do my family, so it likely will not have much of an impact on me personally, but it intrigues me.
edit: To pay for the Civil War, trust a good war to loosen the dislike of taxation.
edit: To pay for the Civil War, trust a good war to loosen the dislike of taxation.
Last edited by robtuck; Jan 7th 2020 at 7:52 pm.
Jan 8th 2020, 2:10 am
#26
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
You clearly have some sort of philosophical or political objection to your child being a US Citizen, and you're perfectly entitled to feel the way that you do about the situation.
What's NOT permitted is for you to force your philosophical and political beliefs onto your child, which you would be doing if you took HER citizenship away from HER.
Renunciation must be a conscious act, and that's a decision that she can make for herself when she is old enough - you don't get to decide to take that away from her before she is old enough to even comprehend the ramifications of that decision.
As Pulaski has mooted, there's probably very little consequences to just leaving this well alone and doing nothing until your daughter is old enough for it to really matter...
What's NOT permitted is for you to force your philosophical and political beliefs onto your child, which you would be doing if you took HER citizenship away from HER.
Renunciation must be a conscious act, and that's a decision that she can make for herself when she is old enough - you don't get to decide to take that away from her before she is old enough to even comprehend the ramifications of that decision.
As Pulaski has mooted, there's probably very little consequences to just leaving this well alone and doing nothing until your daughter is old enough for it to really matter...
I was summoned (by Miami-Dade County) when I had already been living in the Middle East for several years, and had been living in Washington State for a few years before going to the ME. I had not held a Florida Drivers' Licence in years. The man on the phone was extremely rude to me - even by Miami standards - and tried to tell me I was not eligible for recusal just because I had been resident in a foreign country and different state for years, and was going to have to jet in for it anyways or risk civil penalties. I hung up on him, e-mailed in proof of residency elsewhere and never heard another thing about it and never received another summons from Miami-Dade County. This was 7-8 years ago.
Jan 8th 2020, 2:15 am
#27
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
..... I was summoned (by Miami-Dade County) when I had already been living in the Middle East for several years, and had been living in Washington State for a few years before going to the ME. I had not held a Florida Drivers' Licence in years. The man on the phone was extremely rude to me - even by Miami standards - and tried to tell me I was not eligible for recusal just because I had been resident in a foreign country and different state for years, and was going to have to jet in for it anyways or risk civil penalties. I hung up on him, e-mailed in proof of residency elsewhere and never heard another thing about it and never received another summons from Miami-Dade County. This was 7-8 years ago.
Jan 8th 2020, 2:16 am
#28
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Jan 8th 2020, 2:32 am
#29
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
Has anybody on here not had citizenship forced upon them?
I had not thought of it that way, what would the option be?
I had not thought of it that way, what would the option be?
Jan 8th 2020, 2:39 am
#30
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Re: Will my child need to file taxes in US when old enough
Yeah I know. I knew the guy on the phone was both wrong (I had been recused previously when living out of jurisdiction) and just trying to be difficult, which is why I hung up on him and just e-mailed in my documentation.
I think it could be, the drivers' licence just stays in the system until someone manually removes it, it doesn't go away just because the licence expired or whatever.
I think it could be, the drivers' licence just stays in the system until someone manually removes it, it doesn't go away just because the licence expired or whatever.