Here's what the impots.gouv.fr tells us:
Isn't it crazy that the limit for submitting your taxes online is organized by the school zones? I don't know, that just seems so unrelated to me. Why should Zone B have longer to submit their taxes, after all, than Zone A?A quelle date dois-je déposer ma déclaration de revenus [papier] ?
Si vous résidez en France, vous devrez adresser votre déclaration de revenus 2008 à votre centre des impôts avant le 29 mai 2009 à minuit.
Si vous résidez à l'étranger, vous bénéficiez de délais supplémentaires:
En choisissant de souscrire votre déclaration par internet, vous disposerez d'un délai supplémentaire pour la déposer. Vous aurez donc jusqu’au :
On the 15th I remembered that all my fellow Americans were turning in their tax returns (that I had completely forgotten about). I did a little "Do I have to declare my income?" quiz on the website, and if I say I'm single it says no, but if I say I'm married, it says I have to.
But here's the rub: if I declare my French income (too low to require me to pay any American taxes) and say I'm married, I have to put down a SSN or a Tax id number for my spouse. Except that B has neither, having never lived in the US. Apparently the Tax id number is for cases like B, foreign spouses of Americans who are not legal residents. If I apply for a number for B, I'll get it in about 6 weeks. At which point I can declare that I didn't earn enough money in France to pay taxes in America. Real motivating, right? Not being completely immune to the effects of Système D, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just declare my foreign income saying I'm single. The US government has no idea I'm married, after all.
I downloaded the pdf for Americans living abroad, but I already have pills for when I can't fall asleep. It's written for high paid executives with "domiciles" in three countries or people spending 180 days a year on an oil rig.
I could potentially avoid all this headache and just not declare my taxes in the US. Contrary to urban legends, you do not lose your right to vote if you don't declare your taxes. And even if you were supposed to lose the right, do you really think the San Diego Voters' registrar is on top of who pays their taxes and who doesn't?
The only real glich I see in not declaring would be if we ever decided to move to the States. I like to think it's a possibility, especially since we're married and B would get a Green card. But if I'm really honest with myself, I have to admit that the possibility is really slim.
So fellow Americans, anyone declaring their French income back in the States? Anyone living overseas automatically benefits from a 2 month extension, so we all still have some time.
6 comments:
I did declare my lectrice salary on my US taxes for 2008, but that's only because I had to declare anyway for the Google ads earnings. I was able to use the foreign income exclusion so I didn't have to pay taxes on my lectrice salary though. And since David & I are only PACSed, I filed as single.
If you do plan on returning to the US someday, you might want to file taxes anyway even with the hassle of getting the tax ID number. If you don't file tax returns, your chance of audit increases by a ton, especially if you go back to the US and start declaring again.
I had never heard of the voting thing, but had about the audit, so I did them, even though everything was excluded and I didn't have to pay anything. I am slightly more mystified by French taxes, so I'm glad there's still a few more weeks to take care of that.
You can just not file your taxes in the U.S. and it will have no effect on you, whether you move to the States later or not. I have a lot of friends who didn't make much last year who just aren't filing.
The main benefit to filing is that you'll get a refund, especially since there's stimulus money floating around. I'm getting like $700.
I didn't have anything withheld which could be refunded though. Hmmm...
If you're not an executive with domiciles in three countries (etc.), all you should need is form 2555ez along with your standard 1040. It's actually fairly straightforward and involves a lot of zeros. I'm awful at taxes, but it was actually surprisingly painless.
Still waiting for our tax forms here... (I think they must mail them out later in Zone B; none of my [French] colleagues have gotten theirs yet, either.)
You might be able to get stimulus money even if you aren't getting a refund. I'm not entirely sure though. The government might not want you stimulating the French economy. Maybe if you promise you'll find something fabriqué aux E-U they'll cut a deal. :)
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