Life planning, Career planning and the Reality of U.S. Citizenship for Americans Abroad including Life Preparation for U.S.Citizen-children of U.S.Citizens & Snowbirds
The IRS made
changes to the “Streamlined Program” (a “relaxed” way for delinquent U.S taxpayers to catch up with their U.S. tax and information reporting forms) on June 18 of this year.
Further guidance was given on October 08. Snowbirds in particular, face a potential
conflict. It is commonly
misunderstood that anyone can stay in the U.S. for up to 180 (actually 182 or less) days per year without any tax consequences. In fact, the manner of counting days is subject to a complex way of computing the total number and of course, there is a
form to be filed in the event one is over the limit. In the same manner many expats have been caught off guard with respect to filing tax and information returns, snowbirds who are unaware of the correct procedure are at risk.
Should one be so unfortunate as to be cast into the U.S. taxation net, the Streamlined Program might appear to be a way out. Even better, recent
IRS indications are that they will presume that those outside the U.S. were non-willful non-filers, which will eliminate penalties. What could be better? However, in order to qualify for the non-U.S. residence status,
one must not have spent more than 35 days in the U.S. for the past three years. The Catch 22 is in order to qualify for the U.S. resident version of Streamlined, one must have filed U.S. tax returns for the previous 3 years.
Continue reading Solving U.S. Citizenship Issues – Information Session Toronto, Sunday Nov. 30, 2014 →