Relocation lump sum deposit

[Bbouga]

Hi,

I’m currently working in Europe, and transferring to Texas in January 2020.

I was given lump sum amount bonus, and was told by my employer that third party will deposit this money deducting tax. Would it be better to receive the deposit before or after January 1, 2020 for any Tax filing concerns? In general, I rather not file taxes for 2019 - just trying to avoid the paperwork on my first few months in the US.

I’m assuming I need to file Tax for this income money, but not even sure when and why, as I don’t even have SSN and will have SSN only after I get the deposit.

 Thanks 

[IsabellaG]

If you don't want to file a tax return for 2019, then it would be better to receive this income in 2020. You would need to report your income in the year that you receive it. But you may already have received the income for tax purposes if this money is already set aside for you and you can decide when to draw from it. This is what the law says: 

"§ 1.451-2 Constructive receipt of income.
(a) General rule. Income although not actually reduced to a taxpayer's possession is constructively received by him in the taxable year during which it is credited to his account, set apart for him, or otherwise made available so that he may draw upon it at any time, or so that he could have drawn upon it during the taxable year if notice of intention to withdraw had been given."