# working for a foreign company



## stevo81 (Mar 21, 2013)

hello,

I have a seemingly complicated status I need some advice.

I am a Us citizen since 2009, never filed for any taxes, never worked in the us.
now I need to show tax returns for undisclosed reasons but here is the thing,
I have worked and lived abroad all this time for a foreign company as worldwide individual contractor and I am above current tax exemptions, not paying tax anywhere.

any suggestions or recommendations who could help me out.

any input well appreciated 

brgds
stef


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Just a hunch, but I expect that you will owe the IRS a fairly substantial amount of money. As a general principle, if you haven't paid tax in any other jurisdiction, you have nothing to offset against what you would pay in the US. 

That sucks, but such are the glorious benefits of having US citizenship.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

As a US citizen living abroad, you're entitled to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (roughly $90K to $95K in recent years) applicable to your "earned" (i.e. salary or salary-like) income. Over and above that, if you haven't been paying taxes to any jurisdiction, you're going to owe back taxes.

Basically, your only legitimate option is to file the back tax returns, claim the FEIE and pay up the tax (and interest) on the rest. The fact that you owe back taxes may mean that the IRS will want to know what your status was pre-2009 - or maybe not. But the main thing is to file 2012 and the three years prior to that. If they are happy with the back filings, you could be off the hook for the prior years and then you just have to keep on filing going forward.
Cheers,
Bev


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