Читать книгу Larry's 2013 Tax Guide for U.S. Expats & Green Card Holders in User-Friendly English - Laurence E. 'Larry' - Страница 6

– Hey – this is not a repeat from last year……I rewrote this – really I did, as I also did with any of the sections that appeared here, last year!!! A literary (assuming you do not think that ‘tax literature’ is an oxymoron) wonder, this opening section – an absolutely delightful way to ease on down the tax system road that the IRS has placed before us! If you were in the ‘wealthier group amongst us’ with the ability to give a gift and reduce your net worth, tax-free, in 2012…..did you? Have you filed Form 8938, assuming you were responsible for doing so? Do you even know what Form 8938 is? Read on, my friends……!

Well, well, well, here we go again – for the third time around, I am happy to say:

Welcome, dear reader, to the 2013 edition of Larry's U.S. Tax Guide for Expats and Green Card Holders - in User-Friendly English!

You guys are doing something very, very bold: you've actually purchased a book about the world's most confusing tax system. I am trying something equally as bold - to write a book that is readable! Now, my friends, go on and do something more bold than that: read the sections of this book that interest you.....you don't have to read the whole thing but read those sections that are applicable to you. You'll find it informative - I guarantee it! Well.....not really an iron-clad guarantee. If you do not find it informative, I'm not going to give you your money back!

I'm home in Guangzhou, PRC, as I start to write this book. It’s mid-afternoon on December the 24^th and no, I am not ‘yearning to go up north’, as the lyrics of ‘White Christmas’ read….. It’s funny how I thought that writing might be easier, this time around, as I've had a couple of years to think this one out. Last year, I wrote as I thought.....and that thinking process, while obviously necessary, seemed to 'get in the way' of my being able to write. This year, the U.S. Congress is starting to screw up my anticipated ease of writing because there is no tax law, yet, taking us into 2013. Is there going to be a fiscal cliff off of which we are going to tumble? Who knows what will happen over the next month or so – at the very least, life is interesting!

Both last year and the year before, I got involved in a couple of 'huge' IRS tax audits/cases that some very large professional firms turned down because of 'fear': the fear of getting involved in situations that were essentially without precedent; the fear, perhaps, of being sued for choosing an approach to take in that audit/tax case that, in retrospect, might not have been the wisest of approaches to take. My advice to you all: DON'T BE AFRAID! The IRS is empowered by Congress to collect revenues but it is not funded adequately by that same Congress that empowers them to do the funding. The sad fact of the matter is that the IRS is never to likely be funded to the extent it wished it was. Computer generated letters are routinely sent by the IRS, assessing incorrect amounts. If you receive a letter from the IRS and it is wrong, then do not pay that assessment. Challenge the IRS: send them a response through registered mail, keeping that registered receipt (as well as a copy of what you send to the IRS - you'd be surprised how frequently I encounter clients who have kept neither and hence, cannot prove their compliance!). And be prepared to have to re-send that letter perhaps three or four times prior to the IRS recognizing that you are asking the IRS to correct their errors. I seriously wonder if the IRS would ever let us know how much money they collect from correspondence that should never have been sent out in the first place. Patience and patience and patience: don't give in to the IRS if you are right and they are wrong - unless, of course, that incorrect assessment and penalty is so small that it is cheaper to pay than to be bothered by it! Let me add that if are an overseas resident getting absolutely nowhere in your battles with the IRS and you remain convinced that you are correct, then write to the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service – this is an IRS ombudsman there to assist you. Now I don’t guarantee (no one can guarantee anything about the IRS other than that they are trying to get money out of you by scaring you – intimidation works!) that you’ll get the help you are looking for but you will get a response – and that is better than nothing at all!

Internal Revenue Service

Taxpayer Advocate Service

City View Plaza, 48 Carr 165

Suite 2000

Guaynabo, P.R. 00968-8000

Two years ago was the first year of what will hopefully become an annual 'activity': I started writing 'Larry's 2011 Tax Guide for the U.S. Expat and Green Card Holder - In User-Friendly English' with a question. Well, a year later, as I started the 2012 edition and this year as I start upon 2013, why change a successful way to start - I'll ask another, albeit different question.

What do the governments of Greece, Spain and, I suppose, the United States have in common with my wife (aka 'Tiger CFO') was the question I asked last year. Last year’s answer: they all must have a balanced budget and rein in their respective deficits. Yet unlike those jurisdictions, Tiger CFO has definitely learned to cope with economic realities of life and has eliminated all of our credit card debt, bringing us peace of mind and a balanced budget! This year’s question: what do they not have in common? This year’s answer: the same as last year…..sad as it may be…..

I’ve added a ‘non-tax’ essay in this issue entitled “Sound International Planning in the Midst of a Worldwide Depression”. This one is based upon speeches I made in New Delhi and Mumbai, mid-October, 2012. I thought that this one would be easy, too, converting it from a speech to an essay – I was wrong again. Yet I think this will be a worthwhile read for you.

I’ve also added a copy of Publication 54 in the appendix. This is the IRS’s sole tax guide for Americans overseas: “Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad”. But I’ve gone one step further: I’ve highlighted the sections I think are relevant to the average overseas American. Obviously there is far more than I underlined so if you want to look a bit more carefully (including the ‘frequently asked questions’ at the end), then, by all means, do so! Frankly, I think I’ve written a better, more comprehensive guide that is definitely easier to read and far funnier than the IRS could ever hope to be! This year’s edition has been changed from last year’s Publication 54 which had 44 pages compared to this year’s new, ‘compact’ 39 pages. Is it an improvement? Read and find out!

It is time to quote from last year’s introduction:

“Yet beware - it is quite likely that even though new legislation will be voted upon by the two houses of Congress and signed by the President, mid-2013, that new legislation will be retroactive to 1 January 2013. Thus, some 'user-friendly' knowledge of the tax laws applicable to 2012 should be looked at quite seriously by the expat or green card holder because taxes (especially for capital gains) are likely to go up the year after (and for that you will simply have to read my 2013 edition!).”

The United States has always functioned best when there is an outside enemy and it just seems possible that the U.S. expat will be the 'chosen target' this time. I said that too, last year….I say it again, this year. When was the last time you tried to open up a bank account using your U.S. passport as your nationality designated proof of who you are? Well let me tell you, my friends, you simply cannot - at an international bank - or any bank, for that matter, which has income producing assets in the United States. The FATCA section of this book will tell you why.

We expats have grown quite accustomed to both the foreign earned income and foreign housing exclusions. For the first time in the 23 years I've been an expat, I think we are in danger of losing them. Starbucks in the UK – and their application of comprehensive worldwide tax strategies is back peddling faster than Starbucks really has a chance to react. All those apps I purchase through iTunes, which are paid through Apple's Luxembourg corporation are tax-free. Many U.S. corporations are tax-free and we, the tax filing (if not tax paying) individuals, are the ultimate payers. We should definitely feel outraged by this but there is little we can do. Taxation without representation is tyranny.....and no, I am not a Tea Party believer!

Douglas Shulman, immediate past IRS Commissioner, to my knowledge, is still not filing his own tax returns - we should be annoyed about this because if the head honcho of the IRS has to pay someone else to prepare his tax return, what does that tell us? This is as outrageous to me as the bonuses being paid to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bosses - government bureaucrats (even if they do not view themselves as such) who, in spite of those humongous losses their respective, guaranteeing organizations have incurred, are getting bonuses more than 2-1/2 times their base salaries. More outrageous, though is the IRS's perception that the expat is a tax cheat! Why is the expat or green card holder lumped together with the domestic U.S. tax filer with offshore accounts - our everyday needs are different but how can you explain this to our 536 elected officials (both Houses of Congress plus the President), most of whom do not have passports, who have never left the country, who simply cannot comprehend what it is like to be a U.S. tax filer outside of the U.S.?

It is with the permission and blessing of Tiger CFO (the Comptroller of our currencies) that I write this 2013 edition. It is to those of you who purchased the 2012 edition, bringing in sufficient royalties to cover the costs of writing this book whom I thank as well – without you guys covering the costs, Tiger CFO would have never given me permission! This book is priced to sell and, hopefully, both cynical enough, funny enough for you, the reader, to sit back and enjoy it.

The sad fact of the matter is that now, more than ever before, you, the reader are being held responsible for understanding an absolutely incomprehensible tax system because, if you do not cover your behind and file annually, you are deemed to be 'willfully negligent’ and subject to potential penalties, even though you do not owe any tax.

Taxation is an issue that helped determine the results of the 2012 national elections. I’m sure it will again be the central issue for 2014 Congressional races. That growing gulf between the haves and the have-nots of American society has manifested itself in many ways, few of which seem to have shown tangible benefits. We are concerned as tax filers and tax payers but what about those disenfranchised poor who do not pay taxes (and likely do not file tax returns, either); those minorities living in the inner city barrios or ghettoes? They need assistance, usually provided by the states and municipalities, already cash strapped. Where's the tax money necessary for their assistance going to come from?

Anyway, I've got to assume that you've read the 'preliminary' pages, prior to this, the actual 'introduction'. So what do you read next? Well, friends, simply go back a page or two and look at that 'annotated' table of contents. See which essays (and that is what I've essentially written - essays about certain areas which I believe are applicable to you, the overseas American tax filer) interest you. Read them! No, you do not have to read the whole shebang - read ONLY what interests you. If it doesn't interest you and late one night, you find yourself simply unable to go to sleep, then read the uninteresting sections at that time: they just might serve as a wonderful, holistic sleeping pill!

Yeah, there are some sections that are repetitions of sections included last year. But no, these are not repeats, per se - for those few sections, there are re-writes contained within!!! If you are a 'new' reader to my writings and have not seen either the 2011 or 2012 editions, you might consider purchasing either of them as well - it's affordable and contains information quite complementary to this edition! And it is the only chance you’ll get to laugh about taxes!

In ending the introduction to that 2011 edition, I wrote about Form 8938, introduced on the sly by the IRS during Thanksgiving week, when it would be least likely to attract any attention. This is year three for that form – still without adequate instructions. That form, the 8938, is now revised and supposedly error-free. If you believe that, then there is a bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you – at a real bargain price!

It is late afternoon on 24 December as I finish writing the 2013 introduction – at least I’d better finish writing as Tiger CFO has already put her foot down – enough for today!!

Thus, I will end by repeating something I wrote last year – a notification issued by Merrill Lynch:

NOTICE TO ALL NON-U.S. INDIVIDUAL CLIENTS AND U.S. CITIZENS RESIDING ABROAD

“Certain U.S.-situs assets held within your account with Merrill Lynch may be subject to U.S. estate taxes in the event of your death. To ensure any U.S. estate tax liabilities are satisfied, U.S. law imposes a lien on all your assets held with Merrill Lynch at your death. As a result of this lien and the potential liability of Merrill Lynch for any unsatisfied U.S. estate tax, all of the assets in your account(s) with Merrill Lynch at your death will be restricted from withdrawal or transfer until (i) Merrill Lynch concludes that an exception applies based on an affidavit confirming your total U.S. assets held at death, your country of citizenship, and your country of permanent residence; (ii) Merrill Lynch receives documentation satisfactory to Merrill Lynch confirming that your assets are subject to a probate proceeding within the U.S.; or (iii) a release from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), known as a 'Federal Transfer Certificate,' is provided to Merrill Lynch (obtaining this from the IRS can take up to a year or more). As Merrill Lynch does not provide tax advice, please seek guidance on this topic from your own legal or tax advisor.”

Guess what, dear readers: Merrill Lynch is not alone - all banks, brokerages and realty companies are starting to send out this notification. If you reside outside of the U.S. but have assets in the U.S., it is time to look at exactly how up-to-date your estate planning really is. True, we do not plan to die but sometimes we do and without some 'basic' planning, we are simply going to make life unbearable for our heirs......especially if one is a Non-Resident Alien with assets in the U.S. That NRA does not have the $US5 million exemption in 2013: the NRA exemption is far lower - $US60,000.

Last year's edition included a section devoted to estate planning – this year’s edition does not…..but I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be 2013 legislation having substantial impact upon 2014 taxes to warrant inclusion of an essay on estate planning next year…..so I hope all of you out there not only purchase your ebook copy of this edition but recommend it to all of your friends (and enemies, too) – let’s keep Tiger CFO happy!

And now to the book itself…..

Read on.....enjoy.....and if you have any questions, email me at laoban@lifeilao.com. I don't guarantee that I'll answer you immediately, but I will definitely reply!!!