[PaulEdwardson]

Hi. I have been living and teaching English in an Asian country for 8 years now. The first year I was hired by a local language school, and went to the trouble of getting a work permit (I had to go through 5 different govt. departments, each one asking for many documents, some of which I had to create myself, since there were no forms for them!), and filled out a local tax form. Then the next year the language school closed, and I figured I'd go to another city and look for a job, but my students' parents urged me to stay, saying that there were no native-English speakers in town except for me. So I've been teaching here without a work permit for 7 years. The local Education Department knows me, and some of the workers there send their children to work with me. At one point I went to that office (when I was working part time at a public school) and asked about getting a work permit again. The lady I talked to said "There are two ways for you to work here; one is with a work permit, the other is without a work permit; either way is acceptable." However, the local Labor Department would not want someone working here without a work permit, nor would the central government in the capital city, so I'm careful not to advertise the little school I have.

Anyway... the first year I taught here I checked the IRS tax forms and saw that I had made less than the required amount needed to fill out a form (about $7000) so I didn't have to file. Now I'm making more than the minimum required income for filling out a 1040. My question is, if I fill out the form (I still won't owe IRS any money because of the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion), will IRS report to the country's labor department that I'm working here?

Thanks to anyone who can answer this question!

- Paul

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Paul:

The IRS is extremely protective of its data. They are reluctant to share information with other branches of the U.S. government, much less other governments at all.

BOTTOM LINE: If you file the return, the IRS will NOT share that information with another government unless that government specifically asks for it and shows an over-riding need for the information.

[PaulEdwardson]

To Atlanta Tax Expert - thanks very much for your helpful reply.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Glad to help!