Am I supposed to pay taxes?

I’ll be dealing with this for the first time this year. I made income in the US Jan-March last year and none in the US or UK since then, so it’s going to look sad and empty I think, but hopefully that will make it easier. BUT I’ve also never filed as married (with dependents) before… but he’s been on benefits here, so I don’t know what numbers I’d put down for that. Oh dear. I better get researching!

Will be dealing with it for the first time as well this year! When I first realized I would have to file in the US, I remember reading that the US is something like one of only two countries on the planet that makes you file taxes when you’re not a resident. ANNOYING! I made more money in one month’s salary here than I did my first 22 years in the states (unpaid internships FTW!), so I suppose it’s extra annoying.

Thankfully my sister is 31 and still has my mom get the family tax man to deal with her’s, so I think I’ll just have to do that as well!

I was told you have to file taxes no matter how much you have made outside of the UK. But you only will owe taxes if you make over a certain amount which is like $82k. If you are married to a UK citizen (or any non-US citizen) and you are filing from outside the US you would file as married filed separately, not jointly, since your spouse would not be filing taxes in the US at all.

For the green card app, if doing DCF, you have to prove that you have been filing taxes from outside the US, even if that money won’t apply towards your income requirements.

I remember someone telling me about that – having to file a return even though most expats won’t have to pay any taxes anyway.

I got some money back from my UK taxes when I came over here to go to grad school. I had to promise that I wasn’t coming back within a couple of years though.

Then I kept filing as non-resident in the US, not realizing that tax status and immigrant status are not the same. As a non-resident there were no standard exemptions – so I was paying tax on every dollar! Fortunately an immigration lawyer finally set me straight on that, I filed amended returns, got money back from the US government – and they even paid me interest on the money I had overpaid!!!

ahhh i am so confused! thanks for all your responses…i dont know why i cant grasp this! Ok so is the following correct?

1. UK citizen working in the US – ONLY pay US taxes. Don’t have to pay UK taxes?

2. US citizen working in the UK – Pay UK taxes and ONLY US taxes if over $80K (or close to that)

Is that right???

Argh! I agree Dreamer, this is really really confusing stuff. My best advice would be to hire someone who does this for a living. I know you probably want to figure it out yourself and save that money but hiring someone might save you a heck of a lot of grief in the long run!

god, i’m so confused. I know that because Nick doesn’t have his perm. resident card in the us yet I have to file as a single person (b/c i’m married to a “non resident alien”). And thus, my meager income for 2 people (one of who the gov’t won’t let work yet) counts only for one person though it’s really for two. sigh.

Who knew accountant fees would be added to the cost of international couplings!?

i read up on all this stuff last night for awhile and still cant sort it out! you’re probably right..i should hire someone but i am convinced between all of us we should be able to sort this out!! wishful thinking??

another thing to remember is that we US citizens living in the UK get an automatic extension every year. we just need to state that we’ve taken it when we submit our taxes. don’t hesitate to call the irs help line either. first ti e i did my taxes over here i had no idea where to report on the form or what paprrwork to submit, or how to deal w the different tax year end dates! the irs help line got me sorted and i havem’t had a return returned to me yet (and i have in the past!!)

I have been in the UK now for 5 years and have filed US taxes every year on my own. It’s so easy! Unless you have complicated income streams, I would suggest doing it on your own. You can file everything through the US Embassy in London and it’s literally only 3 or 4 pieces of paper that you have to send in.
Cheryl

so Cheryl, do you have to pay double tax? Tax both in the UK and the US?

Hi Dreamer – I think you had it correct in your previous comment – but the reassurance of a tax expert wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Cheryl, how did you figure out which of the 3 or 4 forms you needed. Is it on the London Embassy website?

For those of you wanting to do a little more research, you might head here: http://www.usembassy.org.uk/irs/index.htm

thanks pacificyorkshirebird. ill check it out.

Dreamer,
No I do not pay double tax because I don’t earn more than $87,600 per year in the UK, therefore all my UK income is eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

Pacific,
I did a lot of research on the IRS website and on UK-Yankee (www.uk-yankee.com). If your income is simple, all you will need is Form 1040, Form 2555, and a cover letter.

I hope this helps!

Cheryl

I file via Turbo Tax On-Line every year. (but I live in America)
My taxes are simple, so it’s actually quite easy, not sure how it will be when I finally move back to the UK.

I’ll be checking back on this page when I do.

This site is very helpful in more ways than one and I’m sooo happy that I found it by accident