Income includable in the dependency calculation

[GayleS03]

Individual who receives a pension in her home country moves to the US (green card), where she has no reasonable way to effectively access those funds. (The monthly pension payments are deposited into a bank account in the home country but because of the lack of diplomatic and financial industry relationships between the US and that country, she can't spend those amounts.)  How do we reason through whether or not to include those pension amounts on her US tax return and for the dependency calculation, if for some reason the rules differ?  

[bkaytaxes]

Great question! Green card holders are required to report their worldwide income to the IRS when they file taxes.   One exception would be certain treaty benefits that may apply depending on what country they are from.  If under the treaty the pension is not considered income that would also apply to the dependency calculation. They would need to file from 8833 with the tax return to only file US source income, if applicable.   

To find our more about treaty benefits and how they may help go here:

Tax Treaty Benefits 

@GayleS03 Thanks for joining Ask and Expert today!!