Hi,
Like many others who have posted in this forum I have just discovered that I should have been filing tax returns to the US. I work and pay taxes in the UK, I wasn't born in the US, I have never lived or worked in US but I am US citizen because my father was a citizen and I obtained a passport when I was younger. I don't have a SSN.
I was oblivious to the requirement to fill in tax forms until I started reading up on it today and I'm wondering what I should do. I'm employed and payed in the UK by a US based company and for reasons related to my employment I can't really ignore the situation.
My first option is to apply for a SSN and then use the streamlined filing procedure to get back on track. This would be pretty straight forward in terms of income tax for previous years as for the previous 3 years my earnings were under the allowance thresholds. However I'm not so sure about next year and following years so there are a few things I'd like clarified.
I received some money from shares in a UK based company on which there were some favourable tax conditions. Can I put these in the 2555 form ?
Also for capital gains and salary income to be declared in both the 2555 and 1040 do I declare the gross amount before tax in the UK or the net after tax and national insurance deductions in the UK.
What about pension contributions from both me and my employer which aren't taxable in the UK, do these go into the forms ?
Depending on the answers to the above questions I may have tax liabilities in future years (but probably not). The other thing that is worrying me ins the fact that I will have to declare bank accounts which are mostly joint with my wife who is not a US citizen. I've nothing to hide but I don't like the idea of getting my wife caught up in this process.
For me US citzenship is nice to have but not something I really need and if the tax situation is going to cost me money whether this be in the next few years or on my pension or my estate when I die maybe the simplest option would be to renounce US citizenship. If I do this without a SSN should I expect to be asked to file tax returns for previous years ?
Max
Like many others who have posted in this forum I have just discovered that I should have been filing tax returns to the US. I work and pay taxes in the UK, I wasn't born in the US, I have never lived or worked in US but I am US citizen because my father was a citizen and I obtained a passport when I was younger. I don't have a SSN.
I was oblivious to the requirement to fill in tax forms until I started reading up on it today and I'm wondering what I should do. I'm employed and payed in the UK by a US based company and for reasons related to my employment I can't really ignore the situation.
My first option is to apply for a SSN and then use the streamlined filing procedure to get back on track. This would be pretty straight forward in terms of income tax for previous years as for the previous 3 years my earnings were under the allowance thresholds. However I'm not so sure about next year and following years so there are a few things I'd like clarified.
I received some money from shares in a UK based company on which there were some favourable tax conditions. Can I put these in the 2555 form ?
Also for capital gains and salary income to be declared in both the 2555 and 1040 do I declare the gross amount before tax in the UK or the net after tax and national insurance deductions in the UK.
What about pension contributions from both me and my employer which aren't taxable in the UK, do these go into the forms ?
Depending on the answers to the above questions I may have tax liabilities in future years (but probably not). The other thing that is worrying me ins the fact that I will have to declare bank accounts which are mostly joint with my wife who is not a US citizen. I've nothing to hide but I don't like the idea of getting my wife caught up in this process.
For me US citzenship is nice to have but not something I really need and if the tax situation is going to cost me money whether this be in the next few years or on my pension or my estate when I die maybe the simplest option would be to renounce US citizenship. If I do this without a SSN should I expect to be asked to file tax returns for previous years ?
Max