# American living in UK, not paying US taxes -- banking question



## americanexpatinengland (1 mo ago)

I am in my late 80s, have been living abroad for many years, have not filed US taxes since I married a Brit, became a UK citizen, stopped working for American companies and moved to the "sticks" where there are no American tax accountants. We opened a joint UK bank account long before banks asked if I had a second nationality. Now the bank is asking me the question and I can't ignore it any longer. I don't want to give false information but I don't know what will happen if I am identified as an American. One possibility is to change it from a joint account to one in my husband's name only, but that could have unintended consequences. What should I do?


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Honestly, don't worry about it. Give the bank the paperwork and information they are asking for. It's only necessary for them to cover their butts in the very unlikely event that the IRS comes looking to see if they are sticking to the bank rules for this FATCA nonsense. 

There is little or no indication that the information passed from the overseas banks is actually used or compared to anyone's tax returns back in the US. (The IRS has more than enough on its plate at the moment and is still pretty badly understaffed.) Heck, my father who was living in the States even got a letter from the IRS one time asking him to please NOT file any more tax returns because he was at the point where he didn't owe any taxes and technically didn't even have to file any more. Assume that you are probably in a similar situation. And unless your joint bank account holds millions of dollars (or pounds) you'll never hear anything about it again.


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## americanexpatinengland (1 mo ago)

Bevdeforges said:


> Honestly, don't worry about it. Give the bank the paperwork and information they are asking for. It's only necessary for them to cover their butts in the very unlikely event that the IRS comes looking to see if they are sticking to the bank rules for this FATCA nonsense.
> 
> There is little or no indication that the information passed from the overseas banks is actually used or compared to anyone's tax returns back in the US. (The IRS has more than enough on its plate at the moment and is still pretty badly understaffed.) Heck, my father who was living in the States even got a letter from the IRS one time asking him to please NOT file any more tax returns because he was at the point where he didn't owe any taxes and technically didn't even have to file any more. Assume that you are probably in a similar situation. And unless your joint bank account holds millions of dollars (or pounds) you'll never hear anything about it again.


Thank you for your reassuring reply


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## Harry Moles (11 mo ago)

Three basic approaches:

1. Sign the form and forget about this. Worst case, the US government gets bit of information about a bank balance, lost in a sea of data. You will never hear from the IRS.

2. Explain to the bank that when you took UK citizenship many years ago, you did so with the intention of relinquishing your US citizenship. While you never got around to documenting this with the consulate, you haven't been a US citizen for X years. If they believe you, great, if not, no big deal, sign the form.

3. Sign the form but structure things to minimize any reporting, by keeping your joint account at a lower balance, and having any substantial assets in your husband's name. Given your ages you would want to have this done carefully with designated beneficiaries etc. so that you don't run the risk of being locked out of money you need for a period of time while an estate is doing whatever it does in the UK.


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