I just recently was given notice of a 401k being left to me from my mother. She passed away in 2005, I left the US in 2003 and did not work in the UK until 2006 as I was not allowed under a fiancŽe visa. I received a portion of my mother's life insurance and the rest was put into the Estate accounts with BofA until my mother's house sold. Her house still has not sold and all of that money is still in the estate.

My aunt, whom is the executor of the estate filed my mother's last tax return and her CPA told me I did not need to file one until the house sold. I have since then received two other 401k's from other companies which were not exceeding $15,000 after tax was taken out of them for depositing them into my UK bank accounts. I was under the impression as I live full time in the UK and work and pay taxes here and do not spend any substantial time in the US or collect any income in the US that I did not need to file a tax return.

I then spoke to the IRS just a minute ago for advice and the tax law adviser told me otherwise and that I had to file a tax return yearly including my worldwide income.. She's now saying I have to go back 6yrs and have to file a tax return including my worldwide income. I don't know what all this is? Some of the work I did, I did cash in hand and in this country the person or company you work for takes the taxes out for you unless you're self employed. I don't have the figures of what I earned or any of the details as some of the money was never deposited or it went into my partner's account.

How the hell am I meant to go about this and will I be fined for not submitting returns all those years? I never did my taxes, my mother was a CPA and she always did them for me and never taught me anything about them. I'm really upset... I don't know what I'm meant to do and I'm super confused and worried I'm going to owe all this money. According to the IRS, I currently do not owe anything from my last return...

Thanks

StephLB:

First, calm down. You are not the only U.S. citizen who failed to file tax returns when living overseas. There are procedures to get caught up. If you earned LESS than $3,650 annually, you had NO legal requirement to file.

If you want professional help to get this problem resolved, email me at [email protected]. I have experience in this kind of tax work.

On your return a U.S. citizen or resident must file U.S. income tax return if the total worldwide income exceeds the filing requirement. If you paid taxes in the foreign country, you will claim credit for taxes paid in the foreign country by filing Form 1116 or can file form 2555 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.. Even if you have a filing requirement, the chances are you will not pay any U.S. tax or pay very little U.S. tax.
Another filing requirement is Form TD F 90-22.1. 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)

The Form TD F 90-22.1 is the FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report), which is required only if your overseas accounts, in aggregate, exceed $10,000. It is an annual filing.

And are all of these required even if I no longer live in the US? I still have my mother's estate until it sells, we currently have renters in there paying the mortgage but that's it. I've not even been back in the US for 3yrs for even a visit. Thank you both for your help.

Yes, the filing requirement exists as long as you are a U.S. citizen.