BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi guys,

My girlfriend is coming out to Australia to study. Now, I know how the whole procedure works for Switzerland, so that you don't get tax invoices and stuff, after you left. But, obviously I don't know about the U.S. Can any U.S. Expats please give me infos on what, whom and where she's supposed to get in contact with before she leaves, so that she won't have any problems later. Thanks for your help.

Adrian

I think this is what you want to know...

I have someone in my family fill out the tax forms for me. I suppose they do require a signature and I don't really recall what we've done about that...they may have sent them to me to sign but most likely someone I have unofficially authorized to sign for me did it (ie my mom).

The best thing to do would be to go to the IRS website and call someone or find/ask where to find info. on this on the website.

It's been a few years since I've done it, but I believe employers have to send out W2(?) forms - the forms that say how much you've earned and how much tax you've already paid - by the end of January. Then you use that to fill out the tax form. I did this myself once or twice and the form I could use was relatively simple - of course there are more complex ones for other things that I know nothing about. Since the tax forms don't have to be submitted until sometime in April, this would leave plenty of time for sending stuff abroad for signatures, although I'm not sure that's really necessary.

I think we looked into it recently and Americans don't have to pay US tax on income earned abroad under 80,000$ or some similar figure. In my case, I didn't even have to fill out tax forms because all my income was earned abroad or my income that came from a few months of working at home on breaks was so low. But if your US income is low, I think there is a good chance you overpaid taxes and will get some back if you fill out the form.