I was born in the US, lived most my life in TW. After graduating from a US university, I have been in TW with 1 year of military service and 3 years of work. I have never filed a tax report yet, after looking around this forum I gained a lot of knowledge about(1040, Fbar, Fatca). Since I work in TW and have all my bank accounts with my TW identity my question is that do I still have to file to the US? My TW name is totally different to my US, only noted in “known also as” on the TW passport(not on US). The reason that I am concerned is that I am going to help my child apply for citizenship, and also may one day go back to the US. Would like to get this tax issue on point with only 3 years missing. Does anyone know what to do in my situation? Or is there any suggested accounting firm in TW that may help me out? Any response would be greatly appreciated!
I was born in the US, lived most my life in TW. After graduating from a US university, I have been in TW with 1 year of military service and 3 years of work. I have never filed a tax report yet, after looking around this forum I gained a lot of knowledge about(1040, Fbar, Fatca). Since I work in TW and have all my bank accounts with my TW identity my question is that do I still have to file to the US? My TW name is totally different to my US, only noted in “known also as” on the TW passport(not on US). The reason that I am concerned is that I am going to help my child apply for citizenship, and also may one day go back to the US. Would like to get this tax issue on point with only 3 years missing. Does anyone know what to do in my situation? Or is there any suggested accounting firm in TW that may help me out? Any response would be greatly appreciated![/quote]
The answer is yes, you have to file, as long as your income for those three years was above the minimum filing requirement. You basically have two choices: continue to fly under the radar, keeping your two identities completely separate (which will presumably be increasingly difficult to do in the future), or start filing and continue to do so for the rest of your natural life. How to start filing was covered in the Filing U.S. Taxes thread. You can do it yourself, but may want to consider hiring an accountant as it can be pretty confusing the first time you do it. Considering that you want to apply for citizenship for your kid and may return to the States in the future, the choice seems obvious.
The short answer is yes, you have to file. And according to FATCA and FBAR you are what is known as a US PERSON.
The problem you might run into is when banks in Taiwan start asking you if you are a US citizen. Once you say yes, the names may end up being linked some how. If you say no, you are probably at risk of being in deep trouble should they ever find out. Are you willing to renounce your US citizenship? Or simply just let your passport expire, are these options for you? It now costs US$2350 to renounce US citizenship.
Your situation is one of thousands that I have heard or read about. It is truly unfortunate that you have been caught up in this mess.
Well there are, but I believe a majority of them are going to tell you to enter the OVDI or OVDP programs, not sure if that would be such a great idea or not… I am not a tax accountant or lawyer, but that seems to be what the recommendation will be is to come clean, in your case that may or may not be the best path.
Perhaps you can get some advice here: isaacbrocksociety.ca/ I am sure many people in your situation have written in, do some research.
[quote=“JeffG”]Well there are, but I believe a majority of them are going to tell you to enter the OVDI or OVDP programs, not sure if that would be such a great idea or not… I am not a tax accountant or lawyer, but that seems to be what the recommendation will be is to come clean, in your case that may or may not be the best path.
Perhaps you can get some advice here: isaacbrocksociety.ca/ I am sure many people in your situation have written in, do some research.[/quote]
Thanks, I will definitely check the site out. Another idea I have is just to ignore the whole thing until the time I would be heading to the US, by then maybe it won’t be such a mess.