So, I’ve been in Taiwan a number of years, just never filed taxes back in the US.
Waking up to it now, and wanna settle things.
I’ve no income back in America, through banks or work or property or anything.
But I should still file on be on the record about things.
Aside from just going straight to the IRS with it, I figure I’ll ask around first:
anything I should prepare or know in advance of (finally) doing this?
Thanks.
It isn’t tax returns so much as the FBars. If you are delinquent on those and should have been filing, then you need to consider doing them as a bundle with the tax returns under Streamlined Procedure
That’s pretty wild. Ever hear of FATCA?
If you’ve been here at least 336 days of every year, then you should qualify for FEIE, foreign earned income exclusion, on every dollar you’ve earned up to ~$105600 usd. Back in 2014 it was ~97k ish.
Everything below that is not taxed, but you have to pass the residency test, which is being outside US territories more than 336 days/yr
If you’ve held more than 10k usd on a foreign bank, you need to submit an FBAR, but the banks are usually petty good about following up on that as they can get stung.
I can’t imagine what sort of fine you might incur, but I can perhaps hook you up with a US accountant I’ve used for handling international tax filing in the past
Are you sure it’s 336? So if I spend 1 week seeing family in the US I would be disqualified? That seems pretty ridiculous. Most countries I know do outside of the country for 6 months or more.
Won’t be a fine unless he/she owes something. Been there.
It’s 330 days in 12 consecutive months. So up to 35 days in the US is permitted.
That’s what I thought.
There is one situation where not filing on time isn’t completely bad news. If you owe $0 (that’s zero dollars) in taxes or if you are owed a refund, you are not required to file your taxes. If you do file late, there is no penalty.
If you are owed a refund and don’t file within three years of the associated tax date, the IRS gets to keep it. So you don’t have to rush, but if you want your refund, you might as well do it. At least you have three years, but you won’t get paid any interest.
All you need to do to get caught up is file three years of tax returns and six years of FBARs (if applicable, but likely not) under the Streamlined Procedures and you’re in the clear.
Yeah, that was my experience in 2001/2…ish. 
But then I was like, I might want/need to go back some day. 
Just do this if unsure…
I file US taxes through my outside the US accountant who does all my taxes from earnings in Taiwan. She even helped me file a bundle of 7 years I never previously bothered with. Been riding in the clear years now. I don’t even worry about it. It’s about NT$8000 a year but worth it to me.
Thanks, thought it was 31 days tops.
1 week is fine, 5 weeks is splitting hairs.
One lingering question we have is that my wife will have several work trips back home, possibly 4 weeks cumulative, especially if she has to make quarantine worth it upon return. It won’t leave much time for personal travel
There are two tests, right, and the other one is bona fide residence. I’ve done both ways and have never had problems.
If you don’t mind paying the fee you can use H&R block expat services. Just email them and they will schedule a time to call you and go over everything. After you give them all your info they will do all of the back returns for you.
@mosquitonet123
If you’re asking for accounting advice on Forumosa I’m going to guess you have a pretty standard income without a big bank account. I don’t know all the rules for FBARS because I’ve never had any money, but if you don’t need to file that, then you probably won’t owe anything in back taxes. It’s a simple job if you’re just filing based on your past income earned in Taiwan. You can get a printout of your previously filed tax reports (the blue copy) in Taiwan, but if it’s been a really long time, then you might want to do the streamlined thing, which costs more to do and you must file FBARS and any taxes owed must be immediately paid. So you might just want to google tax filings for expats and query a few accountants about your situation and their prices.
Be careful with many of the accountants. They’ll charge you an arm and a leg to do simple stuff. The whole thing is a racket.
I’ve heard there’s an old dude here who may help you pay 0 taxes and also avoid showing your tax returns to others. You may want to seek his counsel. I think he’s reachable at:
Oval, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20502, United States
And don’t worry - you don’t need a mask to enter his office.
The fine for FATCA non-reporting is up to 50% of the account value. Which is insane.
The good news (as far as I’ve been able to figure out), there’s virtually no enforcement against middle class expats, many of whom don’t file, and don’t even know they’re supposed to file. If the DOJ ever did try to prosecute non-filers under FATCA who only had small amounts of money in their accounts, I’m sure it would be a shitshow. I’m not even sure if the courts would allow 50% penalties for non-filing to hold up (which is probably part of why the DOJ wouldn’t bother trying). 50% asset seizure for not filing some paperwork is disproportionate and outrageous and never should have been put in the legislation.
But I file every year anyway, for peace of mind if nothing else.
Do banks report fatca? Or individuals?