Hello,

I am on L1A Visa living in NJ, USA.

I was not aware about including the interest earned from foreign bank accounts or declaring the balance if exceeds $10,000. So, I filed my 2007 return (Form 1040) in USA without the above information. How do I rectify the error now?

Thanks!

If you are filing resident tax return, then you must report your worldwide income. Also, if your foreign accounts exceed $10,000 you must file Form TD F 90-22.1. File this form for 2008 before the due date.
Read Your U.S. Tax Return: U.S. Citizen or Resident with Foreign Income (http://taxipay.blogspot.com/2008/03/us-citizen-or-resident-with-foreign.html)

MukatA,

Thanks! I am going to file resident tax for the year 2008. I have been living in USA since 2006. My question was about the "year 2007" which I missed to include in my 2007 returns. Do I need to do anything about that now? Will there be any problem?

Appreciate your reply.

The Form TD F 90-22.1 is not filed with IRS and is not a part of tax return.

If you did not report any interest income in 2007, then file amended tax return Form 1040X.

Thank you, MukatA.

Some more clarification: If TD F 90-22.1 is not filed with IRS, then why filing amended Form 1040X? Is there a column in Form 1040X about the foreign interest income? Or is there a facility for filing amended TD F 90-22.1?

I checked http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f90221.pdf from IRS website. There is "Amended" check box in the upper right corner. But the instructions in the document mentions that the Amended box is for having any additions or corrections.

Thanks for your time.

You file 1040X to include the foreign interest income on the 1040 tax return. Interest income is shown on Schedule B. At the bottom of Schedule B, you also need to check the box "yes" you have a foreign bank account and list the country.

You should file TD F 90-22.1 for 2007 separately from the 1040X. See the instructions to the form for where to file. Include a note explaining that you didn't know you needed to file and that you are now correcting the mistake.

Thank you very much for the clarification, IntlTax. Appreciate it!