Apr 10 2007
Taxes
For tax purposes, I need to know the start and end of every trip I made to the USA.
Why? And, mercy, I don’t have that information easily to hand. This is a nightmare.
Apr 10 2007
For tax purposes, I need to know the start and end of every trip I made to the USA.
Why? And, mercy, I don’t have that information easily to hand. This is a nightmare.
We have something similar on our clearance forms for any trips out of the country. The advise that I have heard is to make sure you keep your story straight once you’ve picked some plausible dates.
Now, as to why you would need this info for your taxes, I have no idea.
I seem to recall that the tax reason for this is that you don’t need to pay US federal income tax if you’ve spend more than n% of the year living abroad. If you come in under that number (as with someone who “lives” in Europe, but that really just means they have a second home there and spend all their time in NY or something), then you’re still on the hook.
Oh. OK. I read the rules on where my “tax home” is, and I am confident, from my reading, that my “tax home” is prima facie in the UK. I have no residence in the US, have no immediate family in the US (eg. spouse or children), and pay rent in the UK.
So, I entered the dates, but I don’t think it’s really a question. It’s just confusing; the tax law is definitely written to handle very complex situations that people with lots of money and lawyers have to deal with. I’m just this guy who happens to be from the US, who lives and works in the UK…