Friday, May 24, 2013

IRS Reminders for Foreign Income Reporting (5/24/13)

The IRS has posted a web page reminding U.S. taxpayers with foreign assets of their U.S. tax and related obligations.  See IR-2013-54 (5/23/13), titled IRS Reminds Those with Foreign Assets of U.S. Tax Obligations, here.

Among the reminders (with links for further information) are:

  1. The filing dates for nonresident U.S. citizens and resident aliens.
  2. Filing obligations of nonresident aliens with U.S. source income.
  3. U.S. worldwide tax system requiring the reporting of income whereever it is earned or sourced, along with the Schedule B question about ownership or signatory authority over foreign financial accounts.
  4. The obligation to file Form 8938 with Form 1040 to report specified foreign financial assets.
  5. The obligation to file FBARs.
  6. The opportunity for efiling, including Free File for taxpayers earning less than $57,000.

2 comments:

  1. I think that should be stapled in every Passport application or renewal and every visa application or green card issuance. That is what a normal business would do, if they were attempting to really education a populace about the U.S. Government demands for their tribute and reporting no matter where they live in the universe. Think that will happen? Nah, me either.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Posting something on a webpage doesn't mean much when people are unlikely to find it. A one-sentence statement at the top of the form 1040, 1040EZ, etc. in large bold type would do the trick. I would think that such a statement deserves at least as equal prominence as the checkbox to contribute $3 to the presidential election which is at the top of the tax form.


    And a normal business that buried the mention of the FBAR at the bottom of page 2 (to its credit the questions have been modified to be less confusing and more prominent) and then tried to exact humungous penalties would be in deep trouble with consumer agencies.

    ReplyDelete

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