Americans living overseas must declare accounts exceeding 10,000 yuan

> Americans living overseas must declare accounts exceeding 10,000 yuan (Alberta Times) The National Taxation Bureau announced the third wave of surrender plans for overseas accounts yesterday. Accountants pointed out that this wave of the IRS...

(Alberta Times)

> National Taxation 15 The third wave of overseas account surrender plans was announced yesterday. Accountants pointed out that the Internal Revenue Service's surrender plan emphasizes that Americans working overseas must also declare overseas accounts, and dual nationals who have settled overseas are no exception. Due to the increase in the number of people returning to settle in recent years, if you have not given up your US citizenship but have financial accounts overseas with a total value of more than US$10,000, once you come to the US for remittances or are reported, and are discovered by the IRS, you will be subject to civil and criminal prosecution. In recent years, job opportunities in the United States have decreased, and the cost of living is relatively high compared to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. As a result, many Americans have returned to develop or settle down. The IRS believes that filing income taxes in the United States is an obligation for U.S. citizens who have settled overseas. Although Americans overseas who have not filed income taxes in the United States may not be discovered by the IRS. Especially, IRS inspectors revealed that foreign accounts are usually discovered by the IRS because someone informs them. However, there is no guarantee that overseas Chinese in the United States may have offended someone or sent money to the United States, triggering a tax audit by the Internal Revenue Service. It is recommended to use the third wave of self-reporting to declare overseas financial accounts that have not been reported in the past, so as to turn long-term pain into short-term pain. In fact, Americans who have settled overseas can use the overseas tax exemption to pay less income tax in the United States. Therefore, it is not necessarily disadvantageous for them to declare income tax in the United States. If the IRS requires a taxpayer to provide tax return information that is unfavorable to them, the taxpayer can refuse in accordance with the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. However, a recent case shows that overseas accounts that are currently subject to surrender plans are not protected by the amendment because the reporting requirements for overseas accounts are implemented in accordance with the banking law that took effect in the 1970s, not the tax law. According to the Banking Law of the "Foreign Account Reporting Act", taxpayers who have financial accounts with overseas banks or securities companies with a total value of more than 10,000 yuan in the previous year must fill out another form TDF90-22.1 before June 30 and report to the Ministry of Finance. The law was originally intended to deal with drug smuggling and traffickers, but was transferred to the Internal Revenue Service for strict enforcement in 2003. But fines are still set by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and are still banking laws, not tax laws.