Filing Late taxes

[tapas777 0]

Hi all,

My wife lives here in Canada. We filled taxes together for the last two years. Do Canada and US have a treaty if you file taxes in one of the countries, you do not need to file taxes in the other?

Does she need to file late taxes at USA for 2007 even if she was not living there and she was not working? (She was living in Egypt at that time)

I appreciate your reply

AHMED

[choles 0]

I believe US citizens are supposed to file taxes no matter where they are living...I read that somewhere in the IRS's 300 page guide but unfortunately can't remember where (probably b/c it was 300 pages long!!). If you do a search here I think you'll see others say the same.

[redglasses 1]

I believe US citizens are supposed to file taxes no matter where they are living...I read that somewhere in the IRS's 300 page guide but unfortunately can't remember where (probably b/c it was 300 pages long!!). If you do a search here I think you'll see others say the same.

It must be IRS Publication 54.

Yes, you need to file tax returns no matter where you live as long as you are a US citizen or a permanent resident.

US taxes are subject to worldwide income.

[prakriti 0]

This was a problem for me. The US is the only country in the world that has this predatory (and in my opinion immoral) tax policy - technically if you're a US citizen, even if you've never set foot on US soil, you have to file a 1040 every year. I didn't file for two years and ended up filing late. In 2008 you can deduct up to 89k of foreign income, in 2009 and 2010 I believe it is 91k. People who make more than those amounts are known to frequently repudiate their US citizenship for that reason, however it is technically illegal to repudiate your US citizenship for tax purposes and you have to lie about the reason. It's a catch 22 since the most common reason for repudiating US citizenship is their ridiculous tax policy.

However, you don't need to file a 1040 if your income was below some fixed amount in a given year, and you can probably operate on the principle you had no job or income in a given year you were living outside the US and the IRS would most likely never know better. Not filing a 1040 is not a crime, lying on one is.

Edited October 8, 2010 by prakriti

[tapas777 0]

Thanks for your answers.

My wife's income for the last three years is as follows:

2007: 300 USD

2008: o USD

2009: 6000 USD

2010: 6000 USD

Does she still need to file taxes in USA?

This was a problem for me. The US is the only country in the world that has this predatory (and in my opinion immoral) tax policy - technically if you're a US citizen, even if you've never set foot on US soil, you have to file a 1040 every year. I didn't file for two years and ended up filing late. In 2008 you can deduct up to 89k of foreign income, in 2009 and 2010 I believe it is 91k. People who make more than those amounts are known to frequently repudiate their US citizenship for that reason, however it is technically illegal to repudiate your US citizenship for tax purposes and you have to lie about the reason. It's a catch 22 since the most common reason for repudiating US citizenship is their ridiculous tax policy.

However, you don't need to file a 1040 if your income was below some fixed amount in a given year, and you can probably operate on the principle you had no job or income in a given year you were living outside the US and the IRS would most likely never know better. Not filing a 1040 is not a crime, lying on one is.

[BigJohn 4]

Last i checked the required minimum income to file was $5,000. So unless it has changed, she needs to file the last 2 years.