My parents have Green Card and are retired. Their only income is their state pension totaling <$20K USD/year. Do they need to file taxes?

[jianshabi]

My parents just got their green card in Nov 2016. From my research online, I believe that there is a tax treaty signed in 1984 between China and the US saying that pension received in China is not taxable in the U.S.

[DS30 · Accepted solution]

No - If the Chinese pension income is less than the minimum filing requires then no return needs to be filing. So if the income in USD is less than the threshold filing requirements as listed below, no filing is required.

• Married filing jointly:
  • $20,800 if both under 65
  • $22,050 if 1 spouse is 65 or older
  • $23,300 if both 65 or older
    

[rkgm4000]

what about FBAR? How can they file that (since they may have more than $10k) since usually fbar is filed with taxes?