# US citizen living abroad do I need to file tax return?



## francis2014

I'm a US citizen living in the UK. I made less than $10,000 dollars this tax season. I'm married and it says if you are married filing separately and made $4,050 a year you have to file a tax return.

There is a option for filing single and you have to make 10,350 a year, but since I'm not single does that mean I still have to file a tax return.

What form do I have to use to file? Can I use the 1040EZ?

Also do I also have to submit form 2555 and schedule b?

TIA!


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## Bevdeforges

Basically, yes, you have to file a tax return if you're married, but filing separately because your spouse is an NRA (non resident alien). 

If you were working, you can simply exclude all your earned income using form 2555 - but in that case you do have to file on a 1040 (i.e. "long form") not one of the easier versions. And if your income this year was earned income (i.e. salary) you probably should take the FEIE even though you won't owe any tax either way. Technically, once you've rejected the FEIE option, it isn't easy to go back and claim it again. No matter what, you need to file a Schedule B if you have foreign bank accounts (and possibly even if you don't, just from the foreign filing address), but you only need to fill out the bottom of the form with the questions and check boxes.

If your earnings were from anything other than a job or other "earned" income, you may be able to get away with filing a 1040A rather than the long form. It's a bit shorter and simpler than the long 1040 - but you can't use it with a form 2555. Try using one of the Free File companies if you meet the requirements (https://www.irs.gov/uac/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free ). If you are able to use the 1040A, you may be able to cop a freebie from TaxAct, TurboTax or H&R Block - they offer free online preparation and filing but only for 1040A and 1040EZ filers. (You can't file 1040EZ if you're filing "married, filing separately" - and no, you can't file as "single" if you're married.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## Moulard

Other filing statuses you may want to consider depending on your circumstances

Married Head of Household.

You are married to a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you 
do not choose to treat him or her as a resident alien.

If you qualify to file as head of household, your tax rate usually will be lower than the rates for single or married filing separately. You will also receive a higher standard deduction than if you file as single or married filing separately. 


Married Filing Jointly

You actually have the option under § 6013 (g) and (h) to elect to treat your spouse as a resident alien. 

Why would anyone voluntarily submit themselves to being subject to the long reach of the IRS when they do not have to you ask... 

In certain cases, this can be advantageous – for example, tax benefits can result because of the lower tax rates and larger deductions that are available when the couple can file using MFJ status. 

Similarly you can take advantage of the foreign tax credits attributable to your spouse. 

These credits can be used to offset US tax liability on foreign source income. 

Tax benefits can result, too, if one spouse is not working or that spouse’s income is excluded under the foreign earned income exclusion. In these cases, there is no additional income on which the couple would pay tax, but they would still get the other benefits of MFJ status.

Non of this may be relevant to your circumstances right now, but may be something worth considering in the future.


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## Bevdeforges

Just a small caveat on those options:

Head of Household requires you to have a qualifying dependent - a child or parent you can claim as your dependent. 

Filing jointly with a NRA spouse has other issues, not the least of which include having to declare all your spouse's worldwide income as well as your own, plus having to obtain an ITIN for the spouse. These now expire after a couple of years and have to be renewed. If your NRA spouse has investments (including many forms of retirement or tax advantaged accounts) your returns can get complicated very quickly. 

If your income is all from salary and easily "excludable" using form 2555, it's generally quickest and easiest to just file married filing separately. (And I checked - the tax table amounts are identical with the single status up to about 35,000 in taxable income or so.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## Moulard

Its why I said...

_None of this may be relevant to your circumstances right now, but may be something worth considering in the future. _​
I raise them only because my circumstances have changed (or more correctly are about to), so all three filing options are fresh in my mind.


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## francis2014

Great thank you! So the form I'm gonna use is the 1040, 2555 and schedule b? Are there any other forms I need or no? Also can I use the 2555 EZ or just the 2555?


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## Moulard

You can use the 2555-EZ if meet the half dozen or so conditions that are listed at the top of the form 

Those conditions are:


Are a U.S. citizen or a resident alien.
Earned wages/salaries in a foreign count
Had total foreign earned income under the exclusion limit
Filing for a full calendar year
Don't have self employment income
Don't have business expenses
Done want to claim the housing exclusion

If you don't meet those, you need to file the full 2555.

You may have to file Form 8938 to report your foreign financial assets if you meet the filing threshold for the combined balance of all your foreign bank accounts, pension funds etc. If you don't meet that reporting threshold you will still have to file Schedule B - Part III

You may separately have to file the FBAR if you meet its reporting thresholds.

A comparison or those reporting thresholds is available on the IRS site

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements


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## francis2014

On the 2555-EZ form for the physical presence test, I was out of the UK for 51 days. I spent 44 days in the US and 7 days in Spain for vacation. So does going on vacation matter or not because it says I had to be physically present in a foreign country for 330 days.


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## Bevdeforges

francis2014 said:


> On the 2555-EZ form for the physical presence test, I was out of the UK for 51 days. I spent 44 days in the US and 7 days in Spain for vacation. So does going on vacation matter or not because it says I had to be physically present in a foreign country for 330 days.


OK, first of all, the 7 days in Spain counts as "outside the US" so no problem there. Secondly, the physical presence test is question 2. What is your answer to question 1? If you have been living in the UK for all of 2016, then chances are you pass the bona fide resident test in question 1 and can use the form.

If you aren't a bona fide resident, read question 2 again carefully:


> Were you physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during— { 2016 *or any other period of 12 months in a row starting or ending in 2016?* }


.

Cheers,
Bev


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