Foreign Income earned before moving to the US

[tcameron847]

I'm a Canadian citizen that moved to the US part way through 2016. Do I need to report income earned in Canada, or only income since I've moved to the US?

[pk]

If you came to the USA on a work visa then any income  from non-US sourced prior to being admitted to the USA is not within the ambit of US taxes -- you do not report those amounts.

If you cam to the USA as a resident ( green card )  ro a citizen, then your world  income from the date of admission to that status  is within the ambit of US taxes and must be reported.

Hope this helps

[s05]

I am in a similar situation and your answer would be very favorable for my case. Could you please include some additional (official) information that backs this up? Thanks in advance!

[pk]

Please, can you tell me more about your situation--- country of citizenship, visa status,  when did you enter the USA and all  your US  stay days  during 2015, 2016 and 2017

[s05]

Thank you for getting back to me so promptly! I am a German national and entered the US mid-year to for work purposes on an H-1B visa. Using the substantial presence test, I am almost just 1 day over the 183 day rule (I have to recalculate this in more detail). The stays before my move to the US with the H-1B visa were through a visa waiver program (ESTA). In 2017, prior to my completely moving to the US, I had been to the US for other businesses (about 12 days, so exceeding the 10 day rule) on my ESTA. But just going by common sense, in my case there should be a proper cut between my work in Germany and my work in the US, should it not?

[pk]

Generally the days you count  are full 24 hr days starting from the day you are first admitted under the visa issued. If you are a dual status taxpayer ( usually the first  or the last year of a stay ) then taxing is pretty much in line with the above discussion. The authority for this is Pub 519 at  <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p519#en_US_2017_publink1000222522">https://www.irs.gov/publications...>
Note that TurboTax does not support the preparation of non-1040  returns  ( such as 1040-NR used for Non-Resident Aliens).  Dual status returns are not that complicated but does require some familiarity of the taxlaws pertaining to the aliens.  You can download the required forms  ( 1040-NR and attachments  ) from the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.irs.gov">www.irs.gov</a> -- these are all  fillable .pdf .  Generally though I would suggest using a professional familiar with taxing of foreigners.
Hope this helps-- in case  you want to proceed with doing it yourself, by downloading the forms, we are here to help and definitely parts of it can be computed using TurboTax.

[byron-nilsson]

Hi, thanks for your answers, this helps a lot. What if I worked 4 months outside of the US, moved to the US and got married to an American, filing jointly? Does he need to report my income made before we got married, made outside of the US?

[pk]

If you are filing as MFJ ( Married Filing Jointly) you are both reporting your world income and taxed thereon --- the foreign income of one spouse  is reported as foreign sourced income ( excluded if excludable under treaty or otherwise ) and  eligible for foreign tax credit  ( if the foreign earnings were taxed  by a foreign taxing authority) -- this is true if you both request that you be treated as a resident alien for tax purposes.  Otherwise you each file as Married filing Separate ( MFS ), in which your foreign earnings are  generally not taxed by the USA , assuming that you  were a Non-Resident Alien  for all of 2018.  Does this help or you need more -- in that case  need you  country of citizenship, your visa, when you entered USA, the total number of days spent in the USA during 2016, 2017 and 2018.

[anas2019]

Hi, I have a somewhat similar issue, but a bit more complex. I came to the US on L1 work visa from the UK in October 2017. Then in February 2018 I received a bonus from London for the portion of 2017 that I've spent there. It seems that now I need to pay taxes twice:
1) In the US, I am a tax resident in 2018 and therefore this UK income seems to be taxable, even thought it is technically a delayed pay for my 2017 work in the UK.
2) In the UK, the tax year is run differently (6 Apr 2017-5 Apr 2018), and I was a tax resident in the UK for that year (spent 200 days there). That bonus is paid for the work done in the UK by the UK company, so it is definitely table there as well.
Could you please help me understand this? It does not seem to be fair..
Thank you!

[pk]

Article 14 of the US-UK treaty para 1 says
" ........Convention, salaries, wages, and other similar remuneration derived by a resident of a
Contracting State in respect of an employment shall be taxable only in that State unless the
employment is exercised in the other Contracting State. If the employment is so exercised,
such remuneration as is derived therefrom may be taxed in that other State"

Assuming that (a)  your employer in the UK and US is the same entity   i.e. this is US branch / subsidiary of a foreign entity and (b) that the bonus is NOT reported as income on your W-2 for the year 2018, in my view you can  consider this wages/bonus for the year 2017 and therefore had you been a resident for tax purposes in 2017 would have been applicable. Thus it is not reportable to the USA since  you were a Non-Resident Alien till meeting the substantial presence  sometime in March or thereabouts ( based on 183 days present ) 2018.
If on the other hand the US entity reports this as US sourced income and shown on W-2  than this taxable ONLY in the USA for the 2018
Please let me have some more on this

[anas2019]

Thank you very much! It is the same employer, and the bonus was not on the US W2 for this year, so i will not report it for this and only pay the UK taxes.

[pk]

yes --

[h_fatemi]

If I moved to USA in July 2018  what should be my status:  married filing jointly or Married single rate?

[heman]

I have a somewhat similar question. I moved from Dubai to the US on April 30 on h1-b, with the same US company. But my payroll transfer to the US took 15 more days. i.e. my US payroll was transferred on 15 May 2019. Do I have to pay taxes on the 15 days Dubai salary that I received??

Thanks

[Mo1990]

Hi,

So I have a similar question. My wife emigrated to the USA on a K1 Visa in September 2019, and we got married shortly thereafter. Prior to September 2019, she had worked in the UK from January 2019 until August 2019. Right now we are filing our 2019 tax return jointly. Do I need to report her income earned in the UK? If so, how should I go about it? So far, I only have her P60 document, but that is from April 5 2018 through April 5 2019.