Job Discussion Forums

[naturegirl321]

Does anyone know if it's possibile to opt out of pyaing taxes? I've been a nonresident for six years and have no plans of going back. Besides I just spent 40 minutes on the phone with the IRS trying to get my husband's ITIN, which no one knows where it is.

I just don't see the point of filing when I'll never have access to Social Security.

[mdk]

As a disclaimer, I'm not the IRS or social security administration, but...

Unless you want to surrender your citizenship you have to at least file a return every year. That doesn't mean you have to pay Federal or State Income tax. For instance, if you stay out of the country long enough, under current law you can exclude up to 86,000 of foreign earnings. If you don't file they get really shirty with you.

As to Social Security, it's a funny beast. You might be surprised at whether you would receive benefits. They pay benefits to drug addicts who are supposedly "disabled" who knows what will be on offer when you hit retirement age? I think you would be well advised to consider paying at least your social security tax.

[naturegirl321]

[spiral78]

I've been out of the country for the past 10 years and I also hate filing the silly forms, even though I haven't got to pay anything. But, interestingly, I recently got a form from SS telling me that I've paid in over 30,000 in my lifetime and they give you some estimate of what you'll get monthly when you get to retirement age. According to their calculations, even if I never pay taxes in the US again, I'm still getting something like 800 USD monthly.
I'm trying to take this as incentive to do the silly paperwork yearly.

[naturegirl321]

[spiral78]

Yeah, I wouldn't know...I worked more than 20 years...it probably is quite different.

[denise]

[jr1965]

Naturegirl,

I'd second what others are saying above about filing the paperwork, even if you don't owe anything. I know it can be a pain, but really, it shouldn't take that long. I'd also suggest filing because even though you say you have no plans of going back to the US, you never know...maybe you'll want/need to at some point. A little bit of paperwork now could save you and your husband a big headache later (e.g., if you try to get a green card or citizenship for your husband, want to buy property, etc. etc.). I know you may be thinking "never" now about living again in the US (that was my motto too for quite a while), but in my experience, you never know!

[naturegirl321]

I've been filing for years now and not paying anything. This year it's been difficult because I had to get my husband an ITIN number and I file married filing separately because if we did a joint return then we'd for tax purposes be residents and then I would no longer qualify for the 80K USD no tax thing.

However, it's been six months and no ITIN number. SO I called and after 40 minutes told me to write to another place. I asked for a phone number and lo and behold the ITIN Unit doesn't have one. They also suggested that I refile my taxes.

That's really frustrating, because the reason they couldn't find anything is becaues they didn't have access to the database. They're the IRS, how could they not have access to their OWN database?!

[MikeySaid]

File income tax when you live outside of the United States?

I can't believe nobody on here has posted the whole "Income Tax is unconstitutional you don't have to do it!" thing.

Because... it is. You might not want the IRS messing with you, but if you're not living at home or going back... why file at all?

[naturegirl321]

[Glenski]

I file exactly like you do. The year I had to get my wife her ITIN number, I didn't get it in time. Big deal. Wrote a note in with the forms, and they never said boo.

Just file. Unless you have tons of things to manage back home (IRAs, a condo you are renting out, mutual funds, capital gains, etc.), filing should take about 20 minutes. The $80,000 exemption on foreign earned income is your way to "opt out". Are you making anywhere near that much?

And, just remember, you can always amend your statement and file later. Unless you expect to have other things on your forms that construe income from back home, I'd say you won't get a penalty, and you wouldn't have to pay on what you make abroad. The IRS can be a pain, but they have the old amendment rules to make life easier on refiling.

[naturegirl321]

[tedkarma]

Just to clear up some mythology.

You AREN'T going to give up your citizenship if you don't file your taxes.

IF you live overseas and meet certain criteria - you can FILE your taxes and an EXEMPTION from owing up to US$86,000 (double check this number) that you have earned overseas.

IF you don't file the exemption - you are obviously NOT EXEMPT from paying taxes on income you have earned. So, it is in your best interest to file the exemption.

A couple different friends - one didn't file for twelve years - another for twenty years - no real problems. But they both did go back and file for each year. You can - and may - run into problems if you don't. Problems you may not foresee.

The friend who hadn't filed for 20 years - went back and did them all when his daughter became old enough to go to university and wanted financial aid. No aid was possible as they asked for her father's tax statements. Thus his need to file all of them quickly. But now that he has done so - no problem and she get financial aid.

It's not difficult to do and you can get all the forms online.

[Joe C.]