# US Taxes from UK... First Year Filer



## ianm0001 (Nov 4, 2020)

Hello Forum Members

I am a US citizen that has recently moved to UK (July 21) and now work full time in London... My husband is a UK citizen.

I had a full time job in New York from Jan - June 21 so need to file taxes for this period. I also started my UK job in October 21 so need to file 'worldwide' income Oct - Dec21 in this current return.

Can I file these taxes together and how do I do it? I usually do my filing through TurboTax but have read this does not work from the UK? Do I need to use an online accountant? 

If any of you members of this forum have had any experience of this I'd really appreciate some guidance.

Thanks
Z


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

You would need to file your US and UK returns separately if that is what you are asking.

If you have filed your own returns in the past you should be able to file your own returns from the UK. 

IRS Pub 54 is a good place to start.



https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf



Here is some food for thought

Whether or not you can use TurboTax to file your US return will depend in part on their authentication solution. Many providers seem to require a US phone number for two factor authentication - I cannot say whether TT is one of them. If not and you no longer have a US phone number you may need to hunt around for another e-filing solution. Not spruiking them, by I use OLT I haven't had a US phone number (2FA) or credit card (payment) for over 20 years and OLT seems quite expat friendly in that regard.

As you rightly say, as a US citizen you would file your US return reporting your global income.

You have two options to reduce the double taxation that may result.

The foreign earned income exclusion (Form 2555)
Foreign Tax Credits (Form 1116)

If you go down the FEIE route, note that in the first year you will need to delay filing until you have been in the UK to be eligible to meet the physical presence test. File Form 4868 to delay filing until after you have been in the UK for a year. Note the exclusion limit will be halved because you were only in the UK for half the tax year. In subsequent years you will likely be able to use the Bona Fide Residence test.

The alternative is to claim credit for UK taxes paid on your UK sourced income. If I recall correctly the UK tax year ends on 5 April so technically you would not have paid any tax until next year. You can use an accrual basis of accounting, but a cash basis (even though the tax years are offset) is easier in the long run.

As such, unless your UK income in the US 2021 tax year exceeded the exclusion limit for you then the easiest path for the first return will be to use the FEIE for 2021 and then for 2022 you can decide which approach to take, noting that once you start using FTCs you cannot go back to the FEIE for 5 years.

The only other thing to bear in mind is you will always have a Schedule B requirment and may have FBAR or Form 8938 depending on your UK financial accounts.

Anyways.. something to get you going... do have a read of Pub 54... there are a bunch of us who can help answer questions.

I will leave it to some of the UK members of the forum to discuss UK tax considerations.


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## ianm0001 (Nov 4, 2020)

Moulard said:


> You would need to file your US and UK returns separately if that is what you are asking.
> 
> If you have filed your own returns in the past you should be able to file your own returns from the UK.
> 
> ...





Moulard said:


> You would need to file your US and UK returns separately if that is what you are asking.
> 
> If you have filed your own returns in the past you should be able to file your own returns from the UK.
> 
> ...


Thanks for this advice... I'll have a read of the documents you have linked to and maybe get back on here when i have further questions.


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