On Sep 11, 10:28*am, worley <worleyf...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:
- quote -

If a holder of a foreign account was required to file FBARs for
earlier years, however, he or she should file the delinquent FBAR
reports and attach a statement explaining why the reports are filed
late. No penalty will be assessed if IRS determines that the late
filings were due to reasonable cause. The account holder should keep
copies of their statement for his or her own record.

http://tinyurl.com/47avqe

Milt Baker CPA

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

On Sep 11, 11:15 am, "removeps-gro...[at]yahoo.com" <removeps-
gro...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Sorry for the typo. I meant to write "standard deduction" instead of
"itemized deduction". Filers of 1040-NR have to take the itemized
deduction, with a few limited exceptions (such as Indian
apprentices). So if you have no mortage, the likely your itemized
deduction will be very small. So that's why filing 1040 has a benefit
here.

The other thing I need to check on is whether H1-B holders have to
file 1040 if they are in the country 183 days or more, or if they can
elect to.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

On Sep 11, 7:28 am, worley <worleyf...[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Consulting a tax attorney is a good idea if you owe in taxes a lot or
had a large account.

Was your foreign account balance under 10k? If yes. then TD F 90-22.1
is not required.

Does the absence a tax treaty between the US and the country of
citizenship mean that you can still get the double taxation benefit --
ie. taxes paid to the country of citizenship will be removed from
taxes due to the US?

You mention that you were working for 7 years under a visa. Was it an
H1-B visa? If so, then you are required to file a regular 1040,
though maybe not in the first year because you may have been in the
country for under 183 days. While this entitles you to benefits such
as the itemized deductions, earned income tax credit (though if you
are on H1-B you probably make too much to qualify for this benefit),
child care credit, stimulus checks, etc, it also, I think, means that
you are a US person and have to declare you worldwide income on form
1040, as well as file form TD F 90-22.1.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

It is stated by the IRS that non-resident aliens are not required to
provide the form TD F 90-22.1. We became green card holders by middle
2005 (after more than 7 years as working visa holders)and we have just
now realized that the above mentioned forms should have probably been
filed in June 2006, 2007 and 2008 but were not. What could be the best
way to handle this now ? Consult a tax attorney with the goal of
starting the filing process in June 2009 with information pertaining
to 2008 and keep on the "straight and narrow" from 2009 onwards ? And,
at the same time, address the issue related to the foreign interest +
dividends (both taxed at the source) that were at the origin of the
cash in the foreign account, by invoking the foreign tax credit via
form 1116 after or in parallel with reporting the interest and
dividends from the mentioned foreign sources via the standard form
1040 ? There was no intention to "hide" the foreign account and
"avoid" declaring foreign-related interest and dividends, of course.
The lack of a tax treaty between the US and our home country + the
complications imposed on the tax payer in the home country as far as
money transfers are concerned seemed to impose on us, taxpayers to
both countries, a cruel, extremely time-consuming and expensive
process.

Any suggestions or advice ?

Thanks,

Z.R.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >