# Tax Implications following the Surrender of my Green Card



## Lisa Edgar (Jan 16, 2013)

Hello all,

I left the USA to live in the UK on February 20, 2014 and very soon after, surrendered my green card. Now that the time has come to file my US income tax, I have a couple of questions...

1. Will I be OK filing jointly with my husband (a US citizen now living in the UK with me) as I did the previous year, 2013? I have read about the form 1040NR and wonder if that applies to me..

2. Will my UK income come into play in any way? I'm fairly certain that since I surrendered my green card and whatnot, I only have to worry about what I earned in the US during the tax year but I feel like I should be certain and I find a lot of the information online to be confusing.

3. When I filed my taxes for 2013, I held UK citizenship. I have renounced that and now hold only Irish citizenship. Will this be an issue in any way?

Thanks to anyone who can help, I'd really appreciate it


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

OK, that's one of the more interesting ones we've had through here in a while....

1. You can file jointly with your husband - but basically you're going to be filing HIS return, with you electing to be treated as a resident so that you can file jointly. (Technically speaking, you're a dual status alien for 2014, but this explains the situation in more detail: Nonresident Spouse Treated as a Resident )

2. If you are filing jointly with your US citizen spouse, then you must declare all of your worldwide income, just like you were still in the US. If you want to file based on only your US income, then you each will have to file as "married, filing separately". Taxation of Dual-Status Aliens (And if you are both filing separately, then both of you should indicate the other's name and SSN as "spouse" because they will have to match up your returns.) Frankly, it would be much simpler to file jointly for 2014 and then decide how your husband wants to handle his filing next year.

3. I think you have to indicate your "other" nationalities only on the form 2555 if you're excluding your foreign earned income. Frankly, it's highly unlikely they'll even notice the change from last year. But to answer your question, no it has no effect on your IRS filing.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Lisa Edgar (Jan 16, 2013)

Thanks so much, Bev. My husband and I very much appreciate all the help.


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

Just to elaborate slightly, my understanding is that in your "dual status alien" tax year you have the option to file a joint return with your U.S. citizen-spouse. That's probably a good thing to do in your situation.

There's a different provision called a "Section 6013(g) election," with (apparently) different rules. A Section 6013(g) election allows _any_ non-resident alien spouse married to a U.S. citizen (or U.S. resident) to participate in a joint tax filing. The NRA doesn't have to be dual status. There's a key difference, though: once the couple stops filing joint tax returns -- once they revoke the Section 6013(g) election -- they cannot go back to joint returns unless the NRA becomes a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or U.S. resident).

There's a line in that Web site Bev pointed to suggesting that you can flip back and forth between joint and separate filings. I'd just check that bit carefully, just to make sure the Section 6013(g) election restriction doesn't apply. I certainly see no problem continuing to file a joint tax return in tax year 2015 and in future tax years, with no separate tax returns, if that's what you want to do. But I'm not sure that line is quite accurate if you switch to separate and then want to switch _back_ to joint.


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