# Filling out tax returns for US citizen in the UK



## Doug Brown (Dec 30, 2010)

Hello

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

I am a US citizen who has lived in the UK for 23 years (my wife is English). We are planning to return to the US to live permanently. I have just found out that before I'm allowed to return to the states I must have filed US tax returns while I have been living/working in the UK (something I have not done). I have been sent a link by the US Embassy/IRS to download the forms but it looks like I will have to fill out a tax form for every year I have worked in the UK (23 years). Has anyone had a similar experience to me? I'm hoping there will be a quicker way to get this authorized so our plans aren't delayed. 

Any information would be much appreciated!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Normally, the drill is that you are asked to fill out tax returns for the current year and the three prior years. As long as these returns show that you owe no (or not much) in back taxes, the IRS usually will exonerate you for all the prior years.

You might try contacting the IRS office at the Embassy directly (their taxpayer assistance service) and tell them that you didn't realize you were supposed to be filing all this time, due to your having no US source income. They should offer you the "current year plus three back years" deal. It used to be indicated in writing on the IRS website, but I haven't been able to find it recently. Doesn't mean the deal isn't still available, though.
Cheers,
Bev


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

Bev just following on from your reply there - if you have lived in the UK practically all your life and enver worked or resided in the US since you was a child (as in my mothers case) would you end up having to pay taxes on your income from the UK or is this just a formality? only asking as my mother will need to do the same thing for my sponsorship at some point.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

crys said:


> Bev just following on from your reply there - if you have lived in the UK practically all your life and enver worked or resided in the US since you was a child (as in my mothers case) would you end up having to pay taxes on your income from the UK or is this just a formality? only asking as my mother will need to do the same thing for my sponsorship at some point.


Basically, yes - she will have to file current year plus last three years, and then she will be expected to keep filing going forward. US citizens, no matter where they live, are expected to file their income taxes based on their worldwide income. The "exoneration" process is based on the premise that some folks don't realize they are supposed to be filing their US taxes from overseas. If she's now aware of this, she needs to start doing those back taxes NOW so she can get current on her tax filings before it becomes an issue.

Due to the overseas earned income exclusion, most overseas taxpayers can exclude most or all of their salary income. Any other forms of income, on which she has paid her UK taxes, generally will be covered by using the foreign tax credit.

However, I thought that in order to sponsor a child for a visa in the US, the parent had to be resident in the US. Is your mother planning on moving back to the US so she can sponsor you?
Cheers,
Bev


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

thanks for the info Bev. very handy to know.

In answer to your question.... well she is pretty undecided at present what she wants to do. she did want to move home when i wanted to be sponsored, however after realising that there was such a long wait, she now doesnt know whether she will want to move back. If she moves without us, she will be lonely and if she waits (we have approx 9 years left until we have any chance of our numbers coming up) then she feels she will be too old to start out again (she will be approx 70 in 9 years time) so we have decided to keep the application going and work on another route in the meantime (i dont want to have to wait 9 years in any event!) via a business visa route (we own our own company and are trying extremely hard in this terrible time to build our company up enough to try and go on a business start up visa and keep our business running here with a structure and employees)

so whatever way we do decide to go, hopefully mom will be coming with us and therefore if we know she has to file her taxes, she can start to do this so when we do get to the stage when we are asked about taxation, we can hit the ground running!


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## christopherm (Dec 27, 2010)

Here is the IRS information regarding expat US citizens

Publication 54 (2010), Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad


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## sarahparkhurst75 (Nov 2, 2012)

Doug Brown said:


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


Hi there,
My husband is in the same boat - could you please send me a link to the forms that the US Embassy / IRS sent you so we can start the process? I can't find them anywhere and it's driving me crazy! Thanks in advance,


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

sarahparkhurst75 said:


> Hi there,
> My husband is in the same boat - could you please send me a link to the forms that the US Embassy / IRS sent you so we can start the process? I can't find them anywhere and it's driving me crazy! Thanks in advance,


This is a pretty old thread that has come back to life. For the tax forms for prior years, go to the IRS website: Forms & Pubs and click on the link for Prior Year Forms & Pubs. 

Generally, you should plan on filing the last 4 years of income tax returns. But most folks now say 6 years for FBAR forms (those are the ones where you list your overseas bank and financial investment accounts). 
Cheers,
Bev


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## sarahparkhurst75 (Nov 2, 2012)

> Generally, you should plan on filing the last 4 years of income tax returns. But most folks now say 6 years for FBAR forms (those are the ones where you list your overseas bank and financial investment accounts).
> Cheers,
> Bev



Thanks Bev, I've done this but there are hundreds of links under this heading.... do you know which I'm looking to select please? Any advice is appreciated.


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I'm going to move your other post on the same topic to the Expat Tax section. There's already quite a bit of information there for you on the general topic of filing US income tax returns.
Cheers,
Bev


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