# Please help! Taxes abroad!



## kelsey888 (Sep 20, 2012)

Hi, I moved to England from America about 6 years ago. I was only 17 when I moved and had NO idea that I had to pay taxes back in America while living abroad. Now I'm trying to move back to the states, but I need to sort out my taxes. I have no idea how much I've made over the past years. I have no idea who to ask for help, what to do, or if I can get into major trouble for not filing my taxes from the IRS. Please any information or advice would help!!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I've moved your post over to our Expat Tax section. There are a number of threads here to give you some information about back-filing to meet your US filing requirements.

If you're moving back to the US, you need to settle your filing requirement with the IRS. This usually involves filing the past 4 years (current year plus three prior years), showing that you owe nothing or very little in taxes. For any year in which you had bank or investment accounts that totaled over $10,000 you also need to file an FBAR declaration (which is just a list of your overseas bank accounts with the estimated high balance for the year).

First of all, download Publication 54 from the IRS website: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/o....html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120919 That gives you the general idea.

If you've been working while in the UK, your "earned income" (i.e. your salary) can be excluded (using form 2555) from taxation so that unless you have some other significant source of income chances are you will owe nothing.

If you have been working in the UK, you should have some form of pay slips to go by. In the worst case, make a good faith estimate of what your salary was during each of the years you are filing. (Given that the UK tax year runs from April to April, you have to do a little juggling of figures if you have a UK tax document confirming your salary during the time frame.) You do NOT need to include a W-2 to "prove" your salary income and if you've been covered by the UK social insurance system you don't owe US social security.
Cheers,
Bev


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