Hi all,

I am a U.S. citizen, married to a Swiss and wading through the nonsense of filing for taxes in a country I no longer live in and (hopefully will never to live in again) - the U.S. I recently discovered that the U.S. wants me to file taxes for the duration of my life or the duration of my citizenship, which ever ceases first.

I was wondering about filing "married filing separate". Is this the proper category considering that my spouse is not a U.S. resident (green card holder) and I have no income? Will this in anyway affect my spouse?

Also, theoretically speaking, how would the IRS even go about determining the marital status of someone living abroad, who was married abroad to a non-American? Suppose my marriage was never registered in the U.S. (because I do not live and have not lived there since I was married) and I did not change my name on my passport. Would it be even possible, theoretically speaking, for a person to still file under single or is that highly, highly inadvisable?

Thanks in advance!

I'm also American and married to a Swiss. I've filed my taxes as married filing separately, and in the place of his SSN, I put NRA (non-resident alien). That's the advice I've seen in a few places online, including the IRS I believe.

Don't forget your FBAR form, also discussed here on the forum.

But FBAR is only if I have accounts abroad, right? ...which I don't yet since I just settled here in December.

Yes, only for accounts overseas with an aggregate over the year (even for just a moment!) of $10k.

And don't forget, as an overseas resident, you get an automatic extension until the 15th of June to file your taxes.

re "the U.S. wants me to file taxes for the duration of my life or the duration of my citizenship, which ever ceases first." i think that since the HEROES act, you will actually have to keep going for 10 years or so after one of these events take place (or maybe both, soon - they really can use the money).

I found the IRS documentation for non resident quite comprehensive btw. I used pub519 because I am no longer a US person (... no comment....) but they have them for all cases.

Enjoy -

Hi,
I am a Green card holder and my wife is a US Citizen.

Technically the green card holder has the same obligation to file taxes as the US Citizen. I don't know how they would track your spouse down but if you have no plans to return to the US then you may want to consider handing his back.

Our case is a bit more complicated as I can see us returning at some stage possibly and I still work for the company I worked for in USA remotely so may need the green card as a work visa.

I am no expert but we are going through our first tax return filling with PWC preparing and this is the advice we have been given.

Just a clarification: my spouse is NOT a U.S. green cardholder.

But I didn't think that he was a non-resident alien, either. According to trusty Wikipedia, investopedia.com, and the IRS, a non-resident alien is a non-U.S. citizen, who does not pass the "green card test" or the "substantial presence test". Doesn't that make everyone in the world, who is not a U.S. citizen or green cardholder and not living the U.S. a non-resident alien? That can't be right, can it? Currently, we have no income from the U.S. but if we did (or do in the future) does that mean that I also then need to file taxes for my spouse as a NRA?

Does anyone have any experience with ITIN (international tax identification number)? I don't see why I should have to register a NRA with no income in the U.S. to the IRS...

Argh, it's all so convoluted!

Thanks so much for all of your help and advice.

If you have no world-wide income, then you would be below the IRS threshold to file. No filing necessary.

You only need the taxpayer Identication number if you want to treat your spouse as US taxpayer, ie. your family income (his swiss income) is taxed at married rates. I wouldn't recommend doing this.

Keep in mind you would still need to file the FBAR if you are joint account holder with your husband, or (I beleive) have signatory or other rights to his bank accounts.

Yes, indeed, the US does want you to go on filing tax forms, and on *all* your income, worldwide. BUT if you earn foreign income, there is a nice tax deduction they allow - somewhere around $90,000 currently (foreign income exclusion) - on the not unwarranted assumption that you will be paying taxes at the source you earn it, namely in Switzerland. For that, you need to be a 'bona fide' foreign resident, living the whole year (minus about a month) abroad and without a home you plan to return to in the U.S.

The reason to not file as "married filing separate" is simple: the tax rates for those who are single are higher than those who are married, and the deductions you can take are lower. It's also true that the IRS has a lot of
helpful publications/language to answer your question about status - but as long as your spouse has a U.S. Social Security number, it makes more (financial) sense to file jointly.

As for determining marital status, the IRS doesn't do that - but you really don't want to run the risk of their later discovering that you were lying to them either...because then they slap you with all kinds of penalties. Sure, you can file singly if married - you can even do that in the U.S. - since there is a box for it on the 1040, but it's not a sensible choice esp. if your income is relatively high.

Last, but not least, you may discover that your tax bill is lower in Switzerland than it would be in the U.S. That is because you pay relatively little in federal tax here; most of what you pay is cantonal and community tax - and those rates can be quite low, depending on where you live.

J.

The expatriate tax law is draconian, but does not tax foreign income after expatriation. It does levy a mark-to-market capital gains tax, and it does impose gift and estate tax on transfers to US persons by expatriated Americans.

To what degree the IRS can enforce such obligations on expats (and overseas Americans) without any US income or assets remains to be seen. It is doubtful that any foreign country (except possibly Canada with respect to Americans and former Americans who have not been naturalized there) will assist the IRS in collection.

And one wonders about the offspring of Americans abroad who acquired US citizenship at birth but have never been documented as such. Enforcement as to them is improbable until and unless they seek the benefits of an attribute of US nationality.

Draconian xenophobic and unilateral laws, especially tax laws, encourage disrespect and noncompliance. The nearest comparison I can make is with the generation of American men who absconded to avoid the draft. Here's an amusing article on one of those: http://www.uniset.ca/other/news/wp_ronaldanderson.html

For the rest: there are some anomalies relating to community property although the obvious loophole relating to a US Government employee has been closed by legislation after this case, which the taxpayer lost on other grounds: http://openjurist.org/659/f2d/209/la...ternal-revenue CP won't help for the foreign earned income exclusion either: http://www.britannica.com/bps/additi...or-Individuals

What about a situation where an American who has multiple sources of income from 2 jobs and a business interest, from US, Switzerland and England, spends about 3 months per year in Switzerland, 3 months per year in the US and 6 months on business travel, marries a Swiss citizen who has plenty of her own income from various sources as well, and has no interest in ever doing anything in America, never wants to a green card, passport, citizenship, and certainly never wants to pay taxes to the US. She actually hates the US (in a good way) and only grudgingly will go there to visit the in-laws. I suppose I would file married filing separately and just write N.R.A. for her on the tax forms. Is that right? Then, we're expecting a child. Can I or should I claim him/her on my tax forms as some sort of head of household and get a deduction for that child, assuming he is born in Switzerland but I register him as an American with the embassy and get him a SSN and all that.