US Citizens Living Abroad: Do you Need To File Taxes? What Tax Returns Do you File? A Primer.

Are you an American citizen living abroad and unsure of whether you should file a US tax return?

Do you live abroad? .

If your "tax home" is outside of the U.S. you may be able to exclude up to $100,800 in income from US taxes for 2015.

No matter what -- you should still file a 1040 tax return.

You should still file a US tax return to show the excluded income and to also possibly report...

Social Security Taxes/Contributions that still might be required.

You are still required to pay into the Social Security system UNLESS you live in one of these countries who have reciprocity with the US. If you don't live in one of those countries, you are required to pay social security taxes for yourself and will report these taxes on your tax return.

Foreign Bank Accounts with balances over $10,000? - If you are a US citizen with a foreign bank account whose balance exceeded $10,000 at any time in a given year, FBAR filing is required.

Are you a "Non-Filer" Concerned About Problems at US Customs? Well...the IRS is denying and revoking Passports for folks who owe more than $50,000 taxes, but with the following caveats and details...

AS per the US Congress legislation of 2012, US citizens who owe more than $50,000 to the IRS can be prevented from getting passports or have their passports revoked. However if you are in an installment agreement (IA) (section 6159 as per the law) or filing an Offer in Compromise - OIC (section 7122 as stated in the law) on your tax debts you can avoid the passport revocation. If you had googled the $50,000 tax debt passport-revocation story, you would have missed the details about the IA and OIC exceptions, e.g., Forbes Story on Passport Revocation, Etc. And this website says the IRS can revoke passport if you didn't file your tax returns - but by reading the 2012 legislation, we can see no evidence that not filing tax returns would revoke passport (but you would think that should be the case (!).

Haven't filed US Tax Returns and living abroad? Need to file a FBAR too? Well, Washington Tax Services might be the right company for you to solve your tax puzzle. We are experts on the IRS culture and rules pertaining to filing tax returns. Furthermore as a very "email-centric" company - we'll be in touch with you easily regardless of where you are on the globe.

You can reach our tax experts directly by calling or emailing:
Portrait of Jay Freeborne
Jay Freeborne
Enrolled Agent and Tax Resolution and Compliance Expert
(866) 525-7302 or [email protected]
Portrait of Stephanie Johnston
Stephanie Johnston
Enrolled Agent, Tax Resolution & Expat Expert
(866) 525-7321 or [email protected]

Is 2024 the year to solve your tax issue? WATAX is ready to assist you now. Please call us at 1-888-282-4697 or email us a description of your tax issue and we'll contact you promptly.

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