I am currently resident of China. We have a residence there, a resident visa, work permit and a registered business. We have just renewed our residence visas in October for another year. We have paid taxes in China over the past few years.

I am a UK national. We have income in the UK from property and investments and file an annual tax return there.

I own a property in the USA which my family and I use for vacations. The property is being renovated at the moment. It is not let out.We have no USA sourced income.

In 2011 we have been physically present in the USA for 182 days.

I need to know if I need to file anything this year. It seems that we fail the substantial presence test but as we have been in the USA for less than 183 days since 1st January this year that we can claim a closer link to another country. Do we physically need to claim the closer link?

We have just booked a cruise departing from Florida on 30th December, arriving in the USA on 29th December, but I think this would alter our position to alien resident with no option to claim a closer link to a foreign country.

Can you advice?

Many thanks.

What is your visa status and how many days have you been in the US in 2010 and 2009?

Unless you are under a F-1 or J-1 visa, your visa status is irrelevant.

If you arrive in the U.S. on 29 December 2011, you WILL meet the 183-day Substantial Presence Test, so you will need to file a dual-status return to report ONLY your U.S.-sourced income.

Based on what you have posted, it does not appear that you have ANY U.S.-sourced income, so NO tax return for the United States would be required. The U.K. and China-based income would NOT be reported if you are a U.K. national.