How long do the tax reporting requirements apply with a green card after you depart the US?

[mungbeans]

Hello

If I'm a green card holder and permanently leave the US, I'll still have a requirement to file a US tax return.

My question is, how long does that requirement last? If I were a US citizen it would be forever, but surely than cannot be the case with a green card.

Would the tax filing obligation last until the expiration date on the green card? Or after a certain amount of time after becoming a non US resident the green card would be deemed no longer valid and at that point the tax filing obligation would also cease?



TIA

 

[Sm1smom]

Tax filing obligation is for as long as you’re a LPR regardless of if your GC has expired or not.

 

[newacct]

You are subject to US taxes on your worldwide income forever, unless and until you file I-407 to relinquish your permanent residency. It's not only a tax "filing" obligation, but a tax *paying* obligation on all your income, though you can use the Foreign Tax Credit and/or Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to reduce some or all of your US taxes. The obligations do not end when your card expired, nor when you have been away from the US for a certain period of time, no matter how long. (This is because, neither your card expiring, nor being outside the US for any particular length of time, will conclusively mean you will not be re-admitted as a permanent resident again. It is always possible, in principle, for the immigration officer or immigration judge to admit you, no matter how long you have been away, if they determine that you have not abandoned residence.) The Publication 519 section on Green Card Test -> Resident status abandoned, contains this note:

Until you have proof your letter was received, you remain a resident alien for tax purposes even if the USCIS would not recognize the validity of your green card because it is more than 10 years old or because you have been absent from the United States for a period of time.

After you have filed I-407 to relinquish your permanent residency, you are only subject to US taxes on your US income, like other foreigners outside the US.