Any new American mums on the site?

[oremstango]

I'm a very new Mum and curious if any US expats are circulating on the site...would love to chat!

Any restaurants you can recommend? We don't go out much either and don't miss it much. We go to Costco in Reading or Bristol and stock up about every other month. We do love Anokaa in Salisbury though. It's interesting that my friends here all say...'oh no...kids aren't allowed there', but my husband goes there for lunch a lot and asked them once if kids were welcome and they said absolutely so we've been going ever since.

I suspect some people just think kids aren't welcome because they don't have a special kids menu or play area. Seems like all the British folks think you must have these items or you can't take the kids..also most think must have a kids club or you can't go to a resort.

However, I do know some restaurants that don't allow any kids...we have a list of them and make sure we NEVER go there, and when friends/family visit from the US they never go there either and they even tell their friends/family to boycott them. The problem is prohibiting all kids...well behaved kids should be able to go, and if they're fussy you leave or mgmt. should be able to ask you to leave, but I've seen many Brits with extremely rude children in child-friendly places so we don't want to go there either.

My cousins kids even tell their friends in NJ how misbehaved the English kids are...they can't believe you can run around while you're supposed to be dining. Of course many English kids are great, and US kids can be terrible too.

The Three Crowns in Brinkworth is fabulous! It's very kid friendly plus has a GREAT menu ranging from the exotic (alligator), steaks to the best ploughmans ever! I don't remember whether they have a special kids menu - but they do have high chairs. Though it would be a trek if you're down near Salisbury. Most of the family-friendly restaurants I know of are in North Wilts.

If you ever go to Bristol, you might check out Casa Mexicana on Zetland Road (close to the city centre) - very good mexican food which is hard to find here! Nandos, in Cribs Causeway, is pretty good and more family friendly too.

thanks for recommendations...going to Bristol in July and will check out the Mexican place

Hi Stardust,

Where is the American Expat forum you mentioned earlier?

Thanks!

I'm not new either but will say hello. I'm originally from NY and have lived here for 8 1/2 years now with Scottish DH. DH's family live really nearby and we get loads of support from them. (Plus I adore my MIL which helps!) We have two UK-born children - DD 6 and DS almost 4 - 6 passports for us when we travel as well.

We go back to visit once or twice a year and my mom and dad come here as well. I love going to visit and going shopping for cheap shoes and jeans and going out to eat but this is pretty much home now. The kids are in nursery and school, we have some really good friends here and I'm even going back to uni for a postgraduate degree in september (having been told that my American BA is not good enough here!) so we're not going anywhere any time soon.

DivaSkyChick,

I am a member of several American Expat forums. These are the links:

UK-Yankee
American Expats in the UK
UKUS Forum

thanks for those links izzymom - I might check them out.

There was a club in Scotland for Americans I used to do stuff with when I first moved here but now we've got good friends here I don't really bother anymore.

I was just thinking some more about Earlybird's question - about quality of life. The interesting thing is, one of the reasons I was happy to settle here is that I felt we would have a better quality of life here. Better paid maternity leave, more holiday time, better working hours, beautiful countryside. As for being cheaper to live - we bought a 3 (now 4 bed) house 8 years ago which is now worth a lot more than we paid for it. Friends in Boston and California struggled for years desperately trying to get on the property ladder. One finally managed to find a lovely house 40 miles from Boston where he works. The other one, in California is still renting becuase house prices are so outrageous.

Also, having discovered that my BA from a top, top American college is totally worthless here I'm going to make damned sure my kids go to uni in the UK and not the US.

Then there's also the fact that my MIL is a much better babysitter than my mom but that's a whole other story!

add me too to list of americans on MN although i've lived in the UK for 4 years and my son is 3 next month

(i was born in pennsylvania, but lived in maryland for 5 years before moving to the UK )

we're currently in kent

USAUKMUM - do you still fill in US tax returns? I don't - should I be????

I do still fill in tax returns. In fact I have one sitting on my desk to file. However, this is the first year where I haven't had an income, so should be straight forward.

Technically you should be filling on your world wide income as long as you are an American resident. I file joint seperate as otherwise would have to include DH's income as well!!
Now I've done it a few times, it isn't too bad. The worst was always the UK & US having different tax years, so couldn't use any of the summaries given in the UK for the US. I just use the unofficial exchange rate given by the Embassy for the year.

Sugarmagnolia we also moved here as we thought we would have a better quality of life here. My parents come over about 3 times a year (though it will be 3 times in 4 mths from April - July this year!) as we go back about every other year at the moment.

That should be American Citizen & resident.

Well I am an American citizen still but not a resident. I have permanent residency in the UK and have no income in the US. I pay my taxes here now. I did file tax returns the first 2 years I lived here but then stopped. Hmmm, wonder if I should ask someone about this.

Sorry SM but I think you still need to file
Embassy website has the info

You still need to file. It's pretty easy, though.

Uh Oh.

You do need to file. Like I said it is on your world wide income in the States. They do have an agreement with the British government that you can claim their taxes and there are agreements with Social Security as well.

There are two different ways to file. There was a discussion here a while back about it. I always have used the 2555 to claim foreign earned income as it worked out best for me (i.e. got my libability down to 0 for the US). On the long form there is just one tricky bit, but the EZ is pretty easy. Don't forget to claim for all your dependants either.

BTW I always sit down with a beer, a calculator, the rate from the Embassy and all my files. Done in less than an hour usually.

The other way is the 1116 (foreign tax credit, I believe). The first couple years I used that one. But there came a point where it wasn't enough and I switched to the 2555.

If you live near London the IRS office in the Embassy are good help. They were very nice and helped me with understanding the form and helped me with a tricky calculation (that was the year when I had worked in both countries).

You have until 1 June to do it but in my experience as long as the bill ends up at zero they don't complain if it is after that date

(I really have too much time on my hands this morning....)

This is the link for the IRS info from the embassy.
IRS at US Embassy

Below is an appropriate FAQ about not filing for a few years....
(now must really make DD lunch for school )

I am a U.S. citizen who moved to the U.K. several (or many) years ago and thought I did not have to file U.S. tax returns any longer. Now I have learned that information was incorrect. What do I do?

This is a common misunderstanding among Americans abroad, and should not create anxiety for those who find themselves in this situation. Generally, you should file returns for the past three years, taking the foreign earned income exclusion, the foreign tax credit, or both. It would be extremely unlikely that there would be any late penalties assessed, since penalties are computed as a percentage of tax owed, and only the rare taxpayer would actually owe tax in this situation.
You may contact us for prior year tax forms, or download them from the IRS web site. To find older forms, enter the year required in the Search for... box on the top-left of the page. The search typically returns Forms and Publications for the year on which you will have seached.

So if I'm planning to live here for the rest of my life do I have to keep filing forever???? And how much trouble do you reckon I could get in if I just don't. I'm sure would never actually owe anything. (don't have to make DD lunch today, they are off until Wednesday, not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing - I might however, want to make breakfast as they've been up since 6:30)

My husband is American and didn't do his taxes living here. We almost moved back last year and for my visa he had to have the last 3 years tax returns so he just filed them then, with no penalty.

I know an American who filed 10 years of backtaxes before she moved back to the US.

So you can sort it out if you want to.

Oh... and I don't think dh plans on filing anymore, and he said if he ever earns over the threshhold then he will renounce his American citizenship rather than pay taxes in two places.

If you don't owe anything then they won't charge you any penalties and if you earn below a certain amount you don't have to file

If you do owe them then they can screw you over if you decide to move back - happened to a friend

Peppermint - if you renounce you still have to file for another 10 yrs apparently!

The threshold for having to file is only $3,300 (£1665) for a married person filing singly so unless you are unemployed it would be pretty hard not to earn above that threshold. Then again I don't ever plan on moving back so...

I meant the threshhold where you become subject to US taxes too which is about $80 000 or some such, been a while since I read about it.

I will tell him about the renouncing thing! LOL! That's quite outrageous!

oh right. i think i'm just going to continue to ignore the whole thing...