Any US/UK dual citizens- streamline filing

[nicemarmot]

Ok so I’ve made the horrible discovery that as a dual citizen I should have been filing US tax returns. I wondered if any Mumsnetters can tell me their experiences & any recommendations for accountants. Called British American Tax yesterday who were helpful & waiting on costing to come through but would like to compare with a few different accountants. Have a bad feeling this is going to be expensive!

I cannot renounce just yet (may need to go over for indeterminate time at no notice)
but am 110% certain I will not inherit.
Amusingly I'm on the electoral roll over there and visit regularly but the IRS have never been in touch yet

And as I say, I have a copy of a letter from the IRS to a family member asking them to stop filing as they "had no tax connection to the USA"
and the cheques they had to send out each year clearly annoyed them

Sounds like you're covered Talkin.

My husband inherited from a distant US relative unexpectedly - a kind gesture on the part of the deceased. Before this dh had told his sibling about the requirement to file but she said the IRS wouldn't pursue her and that he was just causing a fuss. So he backfiled and she didn't. Both have now inherited from the US person and that fact has been reported to the IRS this January by the paying company. Hopefully they won't come after her but she's quoted her us tax number to get paid.

The whole thing's a mess.

The whole thing's a mess.
With bells on.

nicemarmot you may be able to find a reasonably priced accountant who will do it for you. It's the cost of getting documents and the time costs that are annoying.

In the end we couldn't pass on the citizenship to a child and dh decided that he'd probably work in Europe not the US so renounciation made sense. We were worried about our son having to deal with US and UK tax systems on inheriting and possibly having to pay the IRS a chunk then. My husband felt sad renouncing but when asked why by the US embassy staff, he just said wanted to simplify things and only deal with one system and they were fine with that.

I did US Tax returns myself using the "free fillable forms" site
www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/before-starting-free-file-fillable-forms
It was not much worse than a UK return

DH was in the same situation as you! He phoned the IRS who told him to fill out 8 years worth of 1040’s. however as he earned below the $85k threshold it didn’t cost anything.

It remained like that until we moved to the USA.

TurboTax is also a cheap easy way of doing it

We looked at that initially Talkin because I like tax returns (sad) but for us we just didn't know the system well enough. I'm sure others will be less hopeless! Anyhow we're finished with US returns now unless dh has US earnings in the future as a non resident alien. Good luck nicemarmot - make the returns and get regularised. Hopefully the IRS will send you a don't bother us letter which would be great.

Lisette- which accountants did you use & would you recommend them?

I'll send you a pm nicemarmot

If anyone on this thread can recommend a US accountant via PM who can help me backfile I’d be grateful. Needs to be familiar with UK ISAs, pension investments. Thanks

Can I ask for advice too please? My DS is entitled to US citizenship as his dad is American but he hasn’t applied for a US passport as he’d need proof and that might be tricky as he hasn’t spoken to his dad for years. He’s 22 now and at university but would love to do his PhD/post doc in the USA. If he gets his US passport in the future will he get into bother for not filing tax returns? He has no income other than student finance so didn’t think he would need to

If he 22 he's going to have to jump through a lot of Trumps hoops to get his passport
why bother
why not go as a Brit ?

We were under the impression that unless he officially renounced his entitlement to citizenship then he must travel to the US on a US passport

Does the US even know he exists ?
Does he have a social security number (issued at birth in the US) ?

My sister travels on her UK passport and they never seem to notice.

I have to use my US one as I was born in the US.
Those born outside the US have a much easier time

please do not assume that the DHS is competent

He is entitled to citizenship as the child of US citizen so not sure why ‘trumps hoops’ would be an issue?

travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Acquisition-US-Citizenship-Child-Born-Abroad.html

Fine,
go for it
I know nothing
I only spent years looking at the forms for my own kids

Sorry cross post.

No the US don’t know he exists but he doesn’t want to jeopardise any future by breaking rules. If he travelled on a UK passport and then wanted citizenship to stay there that would presumably cause a problem?

Hope i haven’t caused offence, i was simply wondering if my info was out of date and you knew something about trump changing the rules that I wasn’t aware of

cross bridges when you get to them
he's not even got a student visa yet

my DD could not get one even though I have a blue eagle passport and shed loads of family there

and to get my kids their US passports would have been a logistical nightmare so I did not bother
it causes them no problems, even when they travel there with me

That’s great to know thanks. He wasn’t looking forward to the fact that he might have to get back in touch with his dad to get necessary documentation after not speaking to him for the last 6 years

madame
to get my kids passports would have involved relying on my father -
something I've learned not to do for more than 50 years

Trump's hostile environment is even pettier than Tresemmes
so sticking a UK passport and an ESTA is the way to go