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We are just a few short days away from a very important date. If you expatriated during 2017, chances are you need to file your tax return and Form 8854 by June 15, 2018. You also need to make full payment of any tax due by that date.
If you need more time to get the tax return ready, you can file for an extension to December 15. However, the payment due date remains June 15, 2018.
Today’s topic will be limited to a description of the filing and payment deadlines for expatriates and how to get an extension to file your tax return.... continue reading
We often mention that covered expatriates, who are subject to a deemed sale of all their worldwide assets (with a few exceptions), are permitted to exclude the first $700,000 or so of gains that arise from the deemed sale.
For someone hiring us to prepare their tax return, that is typically all they really want to know – “my exit tax is lower because I get to exclude some of this pretend income”.
It is rare that we talk about how to apply the gain exclusion, because that is the behind-the-scenes work that we do for our clients when preparing their tax returns.... continue reading
How expatriation works is something we talk about with clients all the time, and it’s worth devoting a little blog space to a general description of the basic mechanics every once in a while.
Imagine we are now boarding an airplane and zooming up to 30,000 feet. Let’s see how the expatriation process works from 6 miles up.
From this far up, we can see the mountains and oceans and rivers, but not the cars or trees or houses or people.
Because we are taking a very high-level view, we must ignore the details, the nuances, and all the little things that make this topic so complicated.... continue reading
This week’s question addresses a common situation:
Do years that someone spends in the US on a non-green card visa count towards the long-term resident test?
For purposes of answering this question, I will use the following example:
A taxpayer lives in the US on an H1-B visa for 7 years, then gets his green card. He stays in the US on the green card 2 more years, then moves back to his home country. The year he leaves the US, he turns in his green card with Form I-407.
The question I will answer is: Did this person become a long-term resident, and is he an expatriate when he turns in his green card?... continue reading
One of the much-touted aspects of the new tax laws that came into effect at the start of 2018 is the abolishment of the personal exemption and the increase of the standard deduction.
These changes are part of the “tax reform” bill passed in late 2017 whereby ordinary individual taxpayers are supposed to benefit from a simpler system and a lower overall tax bill. I put the words “tax reform” in quotes because, well, I have opinions.
In today’s discussion, I will examine how these changes will impact people who expatriate in 2018 and later years, and specifically, expatriates with low income.... continue reading
