# Income tax while on E3 visa



## Daniel15 (Apr 14, 2010)

Hi everyone,

I'll be moving to the USA some time in the next few months on an E3 visa. I'm trying to figure out how taxes work in the USA, but the income tax system seems much more complicated than what we have in Australia. I've been playing around with a tax calculator (tax-rates.org) to estimate how much tax I'll have to pay, but I was curious as to whether I'll need to pay more tax since I'm not a US citizen. In Australia, non-residents have different tax brackets, but I'm unsure as to whether this is also the case in the USA.

Thanks!


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

Have you tried search function? This is a regular question.

Federal, state, municipality, family status, income, ... A good source of information is your HR department. Of course for federal IRS.gov and state/county/city sites for the rest.


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## Daniel15 (Apr 14, 2010)

twostep said:


> Have you tried search function? This is a regular question.


Yeah I did. I wasn't sure what keywords to search for, and I also wasn't sure if there was anything specific to the E3 visa. The forum doesn't let me search for "E3" since it's too short ("_The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search: E3_")

I did find the tax rates for both federal and state (I'll be in California) but I couldn't find any information on whether non-citizens need to pay higher taxes.

It'll just be me by myself, no dependants or partner.


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## ina (Feb 26, 2009)

E3 visa holders pay the same tax rate as citizens. Also, I personally don't find tax filing particularly difficult, especially if you're an employee and not a business owner. So far I've always been able to do the tax filing myself without the help of a tax consultant. I find it pretty straightforward if you're single and an employee.


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## Daniel15 (Apr 14, 2010)

Thanks ina 



> Also, I personally don't find tax filing particularly difficult, especially if you're an employee and not a business owner.


I guess it's just different for me since the Australian tax forms seem simpler, and we've generally got the same taxes country-wide (it's not different per state) so it's easier to estimate income taxes.


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## ina (Feb 26, 2009)

It looks difficult the first time you do it, but the second year will be easier. It's basically the federal form 1040 and the California form (don't know the name for that one, but I'm sure you can just google it). When I did the filing for the first time, I went to a local H&R Block and asked a tax consultant. She did my form within 15 minutes and charged me nothing. After this I always did the filing myself. The tax forms also come with line instructions.


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## wenglish (Jun 20, 2013)

As mentioned by Ina taxes are the same regardless of your immigration status.

I have never used a tax preparer, but H&R Block are the biggest.

The first year I was here in the US my employer had someone from accounting give all the "guys from the UK" a talk about taxes. When he started talking about IRA contributions most of our chins hit the floor (until he explained he was talking about Individual Retirement Accounts).

I did my own taxes for the first 10 years, and have used Turbo Tax for Federal taxes for the last 20 years. It has additional programs for handling State taxes. I don't have any experience with State taxes as I have lived all these years in two of the few states that don't have income taxes (trust me, they make up for it with other taxes).

There are different rules for your first (partial) year. For me that was so long ago I've forgotten the details, but I have a suspicion that Turbo Tax even handles that situation.

There are one or two other tax preparation programs out there - Tax Cut and Tax Act I think.

Mike


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

The big tax softwares now offer live chat and [email protected] for almost all entries. Previous years' entries can be accessed and filing is on-line. One word of caution - try not to pay taxes due by credit card!


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## hutais (Jul 2, 2010)

We are Aussies living in NYC on E3. We did it ourselves the first year however the second year was not so easy. We have property back in Australia and kids so it gets more complicated.

You need to declare all assets back home here as Uncle Sam likes to get his share. My advice get a professional to do it.

I will add Turbo tax did our first and second and got it very wrong the second time.It made a relatively large mistake with our Australian assets. Thankfully we found an accountant who is familiar with foreigners and has helped us.


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## wenglish (Jun 20, 2013)

That's very good advice. I kept no property or bank accounts when I left the UK, just converted it all into a wire transfer, so foreign assets were not an issue for me.

Mike


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## Gtrain (1 mo ago)

hutais said:


> We are Aussies living in NYC on E3. We did it ourselves the first year however the second year was not so easy. We have property back in Australia and kids so it gets more complicated.
> 
> You need to declare all assets back home here as Uncle Sam likes to get his share. My advice get a professional to do it.
> 
> I will add Turbo tax did our first and second and got it very wrong the second time.It made a relatively large mistake with our Australian assets. Thankfully we found an accountant who is familiar with foreigners and has helped us.


hi there 

i am looking for an accountant ,can you let me know who you found?


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