ExpatCM
Dryer sheet wannabe
Hello
I'm unsure what forum taxes falls under so if this is an inappropriate question, please advise what forum would be better
My wife and I live outside the USA and have filed joint tax returns before we retired in 2015. Because our gross adjusted worldwide income has fallen below the threshold required for filing a tax return ($24,400 for 2019), we have not filed a federal or state tax return since 2016.
We do have overseas bank accounts and file the required FBAR report every year. We also maintain careful spreadsheets listing our taxable income which consists of CD interest in US banks, US checking account interest, foreign bank account interest (which we convert to USD using government year end rates) and a small amount of taxable investment income in a brokerage account (about $1000). Neither of us is old enough to qualify for Social Security yet. The bulk of our assets are in tax sheltered brokerage retirement accounts for future use.
I am eligible to begin a small pension from my last employer in 2020 that will amount to a total of $5,760 annually. Since the entire gross amount plus all our worldwide taxable income will still not exceed the requirement for filing a return, my question is this for anyone that might know.
1) Do I have to have the employer withhold any federal tax at all? If they are required to withhold something, I guess that means I'd be required to begin filing again to receive the taxes back in the form of a refund due to overpayment of taxes?
2) Is there any requirement to file a federal tax return when you receive a pension even if the amount is too small to incur a tax liability?
3) Do estimated quarterly taxes come into play at all? It seems stupid to pay even small amounts four times a year when we'd be eligible to receive the entire tax amount back because we will not exceed the amount required to file a 1040.
I'm trying to avoid asking the last guy that filed a return for us because he will not give advice for free. Because my wife is a Canadian/US dual citizen with tax sheltered Canadian brokerage assets, we have always paid a cross border tax specialist in the past to file our returns to ensure we are meeting IRS requirements for exempting Canadian assets from US taxes as well as any strange foreign tax rules that I wouldn't know about. Since expat tax filing fees are pricey for having a zero liability, we're trying not to file until later in life when the situation warrants it.
Thanks for any advice in advance.
I'm unsure what forum taxes falls under so if this is an inappropriate question, please advise what forum would be better
My wife and I live outside the USA and have filed joint tax returns before we retired in 2015. Because our gross adjusted worldwide income has fallen below the threshold required for filing a tax return ($24,400 for 2019), we have not filed a federal or state tax return since 2016.
We do have overseas bank accounts and file the required FBAR report every year. We also maintain careful spreadsheets listing our taxable income which consists of CD interest in US banks, US checking account interest, foreign bank account interest (which we convert to USD using government year end rates) and a small amount of taxable investment income in a brokerage account (about $1000). Neither of us is old enough to qualify for Social Security yet. The bulk of our assets are in tax sheltered brokerage retirement accounts for future use.
I am eligible to begin a small pension from my last employer in 2020 that will amount to a total of $5,760 annually. Since the entire gross amount plus all our worldwide taxable income will still not exceed the requirement for filing a return, my question is this for anyone that might know.
1) Do I have to have the employer withhold any federal tax at all? If they are required to withhold something, I guess that means I'd be required to begin filing again to receive the taxes back in the form of a refund due to overpayment of taxes?
2) Is there any requirement to file a federal tax return when you receive a pension even if the amount is too small to incur a tax liability?
3) Do estimated quarterly taxes come into play at all? It seems stupid to pay even small amounts four times a year when we'd be eligible to receive the entire tax amount back because we will not exceed the amount required to file a 1040.
I'm trying to avoid asking the last guy that filed a return for us because he will not give advice for free. Because my wife is a Canadian/US dual citizen with tax sheltered Canadian brokerage assets, we have always paid a cross border tax specialist in the past to file our returns to ensure we are meeting IRS requirements for exempting Canadian assets from US taxes as well as any strange foreign tax rules that I wouldn't know about. Since expat tax filing fees are pricey for having a zero liability, we're trying not to file until later in life when the situation warrants it.
Thanks for any advice in advance.