# Filling out tax forms for US citizen in the UK



## sarahparkhurst75

Hello

I'm new to this forum so apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere.

My husband is a US citizen who has lived in the UK for 6 years (I am his wife and I am English). We are planning to return to the US to live permanently. We have just found out that before we are allowed to return to the states he must have filed US tax returns while he has been living/working in the UK (something he has not done). 

Any assistance with what forms and links to where we can download them and how to fill them out will be great!

Any information would be much appreciated!


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## Bevdeforges

Take a look at the threads referenced by the sticky at the top of this section: http://www.expatforum.com/expats/expat-tax/100308-help-us-citizens-filing-abroad.html

On the IRS website, you need to go to the Forms and Publications section and select Forms and Publications from prior years. The basic forms needed for filing from overseas are:

*1040 *(the basic tax return form)
*2555* (Foreign Earned Income Exclusion - so you can exclude your salary income from taxation up to about $92K)
*Schedule B *for the 1040 - to itemize your interest and dividends if they exceed the thresholds and in any event to check the appropriate box at the bottom of the form for the question about "do you have any foreign accounts?"

You may also need a form *1116*, which allows you to take a credit for income taxes paid to any other government on the income declared but not eligible for the Earned Income Exclusion on form 2555.

The basic information on filing from overseas is contained in *Publication 54,* which is also downloadable from the site.

For overall instructions about US tax filing, check *Publication 17*, which can either be downloaded or just consulted on the IRS website.

Any other forms or schedules needed will depend on your husband's sources of income over the last few years.
Cheers,
Bev


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## sarahparkhurst75

Hi Bev,
Many thanks. As our tax year in UK goes April - April do I need to change that to the US Jan - Dec or leave as is?


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## Bevdeforges

sarahparkhurst75 said:


> Hi Bev,
> Many thanks. As our tax year in UK goes April - April do I need to change that to the US Jan - Dec or leave as is?


That's where these things get tricky. You still report on a calendar year to the IRS. You report on the UK tax year to the UK tax authority. You may have to re-calculate your annual income (say, by adding up your pay slips from January to December) in order to generate the right numbers for your US filing.
Cheers,
Bev


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## ljksmith

Hi,

I am also needing to file previous tax returns (I have lived in the UK for almost ten years but didn't realise that I had to if I was under the threshold, oops!) I am hoping to do it through the new streamlined amnesty the IRS is holding. 

Don't forget about the FBAR if that applies to your husband (if he has had any non-US accounts of $10000 or over at any time. This includes aggregate amounts of multiple accounts as well). 

Even though I only have to file for the last 3 years for tax returns, I am a bit worried about how I will get the information to do this. I may have a couple p60s floating about, but that doesnt sound like it will help as I need records from Jan to Dec instead of April to April. I most certainly don't have the last three years worth of payslips! This is all compounded by the fact that for two of those years I had a fulltime and a parttime job. 

Does anyone have any advices on what to do in this case?
L

(I have no clue what I am doing and am a bit perplexed by the whole situation, so don't take anything I say as gospel pls)


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## Bevdeforges

For filing your US tax returns, you really do need to re-calculate your income based on a calendar year rather than the UK tax year. If you have payslips from the period, probably best just to add them up from January to December.

If the P60 form is a summary of your wage statements for the UK tax year, you can do a reasonable estimate by taking Year N's P60, subtracting 1/4 from the gross wages (i.e. your salary before any taxes are taken out), and adding back 1/4 of the amount from Year N-1's P60 statement. (If your salary didn't change from one tax year to the next, just use the amount from the P60.)

If all else fails, and you really can't find the payslips or P60's, give it all a good, hard guesstimate and file based on that. (If you want to play it safe, round your estimate up by a few hundred or few thousand dollars.) I guarantee you they won't penalize you for overreporting by a bit - and honestly, they don't have anything to compare to what you report. And they'll only compare directly with your UK tax records if you look like you're hiding something major.
Cheers,
Bev


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## ljksmith

Thanks for your reply!

I have totally been given the run around. It seems that if I ask HMRC for a p60 they say ask my old employer, when I ask them they say the HMRC. I'll prob be able to make a decent and close estimate for the past twoish years, but before that all bets are off! I went through a few jobs, various hours and such. 

However, saying that I suppose I could go through my online bank statements and add up the money that was deposited into my account each month (as they were all paid like that) and then add what I think tax would have been. Hmm, sounds like fun!

I have a nice new filing cabinet where all of my financial documents are going to live from now on! haha

If I am doing the estimates based on this, what do I include with my tax returns, instead of my W-2, p60, payslip or whatever other documents I dont have?

L


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## Bevdeforges

If you don't have a W-2 then you don't include it. Period. I've been in Europe for 20 years now and haven't ever included anything for my foreign "earned income." They seem to take my returns no problem.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher

You still report the income of course, but if the IRS asks for a W-2 they mean a W-2. If they wanted other forms they would have asked for them. Keep more records in your personal files.


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## Nononymous

sarahparkhurst75 said:


> We have just found out that before we are allowed to return to the states he must have filed US tax returns while he has been living/working in the UK (something he has not done).


I would think that your husband (and presumably by extension you) would be allowed to return to the US no matter what the status of his tax returns. I'm not sure who told you that, but it's probably wrong. The US cannot bar its own citizens from entry. All he needs is a valid passport.


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## Bevdeforges

Nononymous said:


> I would think that your husband (and presumably by extension you) would be allowed to return to the US no matter what the status of his tax returns. I'm not sure who told you that, but it's probably wrong. The US cannot bar its own citizens from entry. All he needs is a valid passport.


I think what the OP is referring to is the process for applying for a visa for the non-US citizen spouse. It does seem to be necessary for a US citizen spouse to have filed their income tax (at least for the last 3 or 4 years) if they are going to sponsor their non-US citizen spouse for a spouse visa.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Nononymous

Bevdeforges said:


> I think what the OP is referring to is the process for applying for a visa for the non-US citizen spouse. It does seem to be necessary for a US citizen spouse to have filed their income tax (at least for the last 3 or 4 years) if they are going to sponsor their non-US citizen spouse for a spouse visa.
> Cheers,
> Bev


Ah, I stand corrected. 

This could well be a situation where you can at least begin the visa process in parallel with filing taxes, since you are likely just stating that the taxes are up to date, rather than being asked to provide confirmation - as was previously the case with passport renewal.


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