The 2022 tax year filing season will start in a few weeks, around the middle of January.

As a reference, you will need to file a U.S. tax return if you meet any of the criteria listed below, NO MATTER where you live, work, or where your income is coming from. There is the misconception that you need to have U.S. income and live in the U.S. to be required to file a U.S. tax return. This is incorrect.

The IRS requires any U.S. Person to declare their WORLDWIDE income regardless of whether that income is coming from the U.S. or not, and whether or not they live in the U.S. or elsewhere.

So even if you work, say in Germany, and have never lived or worked in the U.S., but you are a U.S. Person, you are still required to file your U.S. tax return annually.

If you are a U.S. Person, defined as

  1. a U.S.. citizen, or
  2. a Resident Alien (also known as a Green Card holder (even if the Green Card is expired, but is in your possession and has never been revoked),

then you need to file a U.S. tax return each year if:

  1. Your income from any source or country is at least $12,500 per year for single persons or $25,000 for married couples. U.S. Social Social Security income and local pensions are excluded if a person meets certain criteria. Income is defined as salary/wages, self-employment income, interest/dividends, pensions, retirement account withdrawals (IRA/401k/annuities), rental income, capital gains, etc.;
  2. Taxes were withheld from your U.S. income. You may be able to get a refund of all or part of the taxes withheld, depending on your situation;
  3. If your bank/investments/Life Insurance Policies in any country OUTSIDE the U.S. were over $10,000 in the previous year WHEN ADDED TOGETHER, then you need to file the FBAR in addition to the normal tax form (Form 1040 and related forms/schedules).

This is what the IRS states about this:

‘U.S. taxpayers who own foreign financial accounts must report those accounts to the U.S. Treasury Department, even if the accounts do not generate any taxable income. Taxpayers should file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) electronically by April 18, 2023, using the BSA E-Filing System.’ For further details see Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

As many of you know, several people are still waiting to receive all or part of the Stimulus Payments issued by the U.S. government over the past two years. If you are missing the last Stimulus Payment of $1400 per person, this can be claimed on the 2021 tax return.

Others are still waiting for their tax refund for the past 1-3 years. The IRS is saying that by the end of 2022, the current backlog of 3.7 million cases will be cleared. So please be patient for a few more months. The link below has more information.

https://www.cbsnews.com/…/charles-rettig-irs-resolve…/

For more information about your responsibilities as a U.S. Person living outside the U.S., please see the link below.

https://www.irs.gov/…/us-citizens-and-resident-aliens…

Feel free to ask us any questions if you need to clarify any of the above.