Tax education. Who must file a declaration in the USA

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You have to file a tax return in America for the first time in your life, and you don’t know where to start? Is it hard for you to understand the terminology and generally understand what's what? Important nuances of the American tax system are explained by tax consultant from California, Maria Shkarlat in her copyright columns for ForumDaily.

If you earn income in the United States, you must know whether you are an American taxpayer or not - and this is part of your responsibility. Therefore, let's start with the main thing: anyone who has income in the United States must pay taxes, even if this income is illegal (the famous case of Al Capone).

The legislator divides taxpayers who are not US citizens into two main groups - non-resident aliens and resident aliens. Depending on which group you fall into determines how you must file your return and how you will pay your taxes.

You are a nonpermanent alien if, at the time you received U.S.-source income, you are not a U.S. citizen and a permanent resident alien. As you can see, the exclusion method works here - if you cannot classify yourself as one of these two groups, then you are a foreigner without a residence permit and are required to report your income in the following cases:

1) if taxes were not paid in full;

2) or, on the contrary, the amounts of taxes paid exceed those required by law. If you owe taxes or you must return the excess taxes paid, you must submit a declaration in the form 1040NR or 1040NR-EZ.

Now let's discuss who is a foreigner with the right of residence under the tax laws. In this case, you should have:

1) or resident status on the basis of a green card, and this status must be legal and not appealed (i.e., it was not protested, and no other restrictions were imposed legally);

2) or you must be present in the United States for at least a certain period (we will talk about this later). In this case, the US territory is 50 of the states and the District of Columbia, the territorial waters of the United States and (who knows how life will develop!) The seabed and the soil of the submerged areas adjacent to the territorial waters of the United States, and for which the United States has the exclusive right to explore and extract natural resources in accordance with international law.

So, if your feet still touched the American land or the seabed, then in order to obtain the status of an alien with the right of residence for tax purposes, you must be on this land:

• at least 31 of the day in the current year и
• in general, at least 183 of the day for the last 3 of the year, including the current one and 2 of the year before it.

That is, if you stayed in the United States for 183 days in the reporting year, you already receive this status. If you were there for a shorter period, then the days are calculated using the following formula: all days in the current year (minimum 31 days) + one third of the period during the year preceding the current one + one sixth of the days two years before the current one. If the total is 183 days, then you receive the status of a foreigner with the right of residence for tax purposes.

For example, you entered the United States for the first time in the 2013 year and spent 66 days in the country, then only ⅙ of these days is counted to count the required 183 days, that is, the total 11 days are counted. In 2014, you spent 120 days in the US, of which 40 days will be counted (⅓ from 120). Therefore, to pass the permanent residence test, you must be in America for at least 2015 days in 132.

Total: 11 + 40 + 132 = 183

If you plan to continue to reside in the United States, then you will have the option of requesting an extension to file your return and will not need to count days using this formula. Therefore, if you moved to the US no later than November 30th of the current year and plan to live and work here, then the usual practice is to request a 6-month extension to file your taxes in order to become a Resident Alien and actually have tax advantages over a Nonresident Alien.

However, the situation described above does not apply to employees of the diplomatic corps (A and G visas with restrictions on A-3 and G-5); students and teachers (J and Q visas with special restrictions); students who are temporarily (F, J, M, and Q visas - there are also restrictions) and professional athletes participating in competitions.

It must be borne in mind that even if you were present in the US 183 of the day, but you continued to pay taxes in another state and had close ties with this country, you can still be recognized as a foreigner without the right of residence. However, if you applied for a permanent resident visa, you cannot appeal to close ties with another state. Again, additional restrictions or, conversely, freedoms may be determined by bilateral treaties between the United States and the country of your citizenship.

Foreigners with the right of residence submit a declaration in the form and in the manner prescribed for US citizens.

When to file a declaration

If income tax (withholding tax withholding) is withheld from your salary and you are a taxpayer with a calendar year (standard situation), you must submit a declaration by mid-April of the year following the reporting year. The 2019 is April 15.

If you have other incomes and there is no salary from which income tax is deducted - you must submit a declaration before July 15.

This material is not written tax or legal advice (“written tax advice”). Any information from this material is not created for use by the taxpayer in order to avoid any sanctions imposed on the taxpayer, and also can not be the basis for consultation by third parties. Please always consult a professional service before taking any action based on the information from this material. Keep in mind that information may be outdated at the time of reading, and we do not undertake to guarantee the updating of information. Copyright www.Solven.pro. Xnumx

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