# 8854 Form? Green Card Relinquished after 4 years



## djdanny77 (May 18, 2021)

Hello guys,

I'm compiling my US 2020 tax return and was wondering whether I need to include form 8854 with my return?

I moved to the US in 2011 on a L1 visa and became a Green Card holder in 2016....we returned back to London in 2018 (2018 was also the year that I last earned money in the US) and I officially relinquished my Green Card via form I-407 in 2020.

I'm hoping that as we are well under the 8 year LPR rule I don't need to file 8854 and that this is simply my last tax return but hoped you good people could confirm that?

Many thanks
Dan


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## JustLurking (Mar 25, 2015)

djdanny77 said:


> I'm compiling my US 2020 tax return and was wondering whether I need to include form 8854 with my return?


On my reading of the facts, no 8854 required.

FWIW, the test is whether you held a Green Card *in* a year, not _*for*_ a year. You actually held a Green Card *in* five years, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 inclusive. That's still comfortably below the trigger point of eight years, though.

Congratulations on freeing yourself from the yoke of the IRS. It feels good, doesn't it? Was there any reason why you waited from 2018 until 2020 to file the I-407? Just curious. FATCA has hugely frustrated finances for 'US taxable persons' in the UK, with some entirely vanilla things now borderline impossible. I'm wondering how you dealt with these between 2018 and 2020.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

JustLurking said:


> FATCA has hugely frustrated finances for 'US taxable persons' in the UK, with some entirely vanilla things now borderline impossible. I'm wondering how you dealt with these between 2018 and 2020.


In the case of a green-card holder, who by definition would have non-US citizenship with non-US birthplace, the sensible way to deal with FATCA issues is to not disclose US person status to any financial institutions.


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