Table of contents:
Reporting citizenship
You should report any expired or relinquished Green Card that occurred within the past ten years.
Reporting past filings
We only need to see your tax return if it is no older than four years (statute of limitations plus one year). If it is older than that, there is no need to upload it.
Reporting U.S. visits
We collect information about your trips to the U.S. to demonstrate to the IRS that you are an expat who spends most of the year outside the United States. This is crucial to ensure your eligibility for the expat deduction known as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Under this exclusion, the first $100k of your salary is tax-free.
❗ Important notes:
Even if you do not plan to utilize the Bona Fide Residence or Physical Presence test, you should provide details about your U.S. visits. These details will be used if you are eligible to make a treaty-based return position disclosure.
Even a few hours spent in the U.S. during a flight transfer should be reported as a day spent in the country.
If you traveled with family members and are filing jointly, you only need to list the U.S. visits of the individuals included on the tax return (taxpayer and spouse). Children or other relatives who visited the U.S. do not need to be listed.
Handling a death in the family
In the unfortunate event of the passing of your spouse or family member, it is important to take certain steps to prevent identity theft. Here's what you should do:
Contact the IRS and provide them with a copy of the death certificate. This will help flag the deceased person's account.
Contact the Social Security Administration and inform them of this change.
Send copies of the death certificate to each credit reporting bureau and request a "deceased alert" to be placed on the deceased person's credit report.
Review the deceased person's credit report for any suspicious credit card activity.
When writing an obituary, be cautious not to include excessive personal details such as the deceased person's date of birth, address, or mother's maiden name, as this information can be valuable to identity thieves.