US Expat Taxation: When and Where to File?
All US citizens whether residing in the country or in some alien nation need to file U.S. income tax as per the rules of US government. The rules for filing income tax do not differ much in case you are an expat. Any income you have in the whole wide world is subject to US income tax.
If you are a US citizen or a green card holder and are residing or serving military duty outside US then the date for filing income tax is extended up to June 15th for you. That is to say, that you are given an automatic two month extension from your normal tax due date. You need not send any request for this extension. There is no penalty either for this additional 2 months deadline. However, you will need to declare any interest that you earn in the extended two months period.
If in case you are not able to file your income tax return even within the two month extension and you need more time to do so, then you need to submit a request for the same. This extension can be made maximum for four more months, meaning you have till October 15th to file return. However, this additional extension will incur you a penalty. The penalty will be determined as per the delay from the default two month extension date (June 15th). In this scenario also, you would have to pay interest on the unpaid tax for the extended time taken.
All the income declared in the return should be in US dollars. Any income you earn in foreign currency needs to be converted into dollars as per the proper exchange rates. If you receive all your income in foreign currency then you can use the average exchange rate of the year for conversion. If there was only a specific time when you earned in foreign currency then you are allowed to use the rate of that time for conversion.
When in a foreign country your tax return needs to be sent by post to the Department of Treasury. And the estimated tax payments need to be mailed to the Internal Revenue Service department.
The addresses for the departments are:
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service Center
Austin, TX 73301-0215
USA
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 1300
Charlotte, NC 28201-1300
USA
