re entry permit and US individual income tax return

PetriSgro

New Member
Good morning,

I am a green card holder since December 2015. Early on 2016 I went to US to collect the green card and to file a 2 year reentry permit that expires on Sept 2018. Then I came back to my country where I studied 1 year with a bursary and started working from July 2017. I just recently came to know about taxes associated to green card holder, and would like to know if I must declare taxes or not and how to proceed. I read about a 1040 form. Thank you very much,

Petri
 
Thank you lots for the reply, well in fact I went there in March but I got the biometric appointment in late May.
Then my next question is, is that ok I file a tax return now or will I incur in a penalty?
What if I do not file it?
I would really appreciate whether you could suggest the best option at this point, please. I will check the link you sent me.
Thank you.
 
Thank you lots for the reply, well in fact I went there in March but I got the biometric appointment in late May.
Then my next question is, is that ok I file a tax return now or will I incur in a penalty?
What if I do not file it?
I would really appreciate whether you could suggest the best option at this point, please. I will check the link you sent me.
Thank you.

You may incur a penalty but you need to file a 2016 tax return ASAP. The 2017 one will be due 17 April.
As you will have seen from the link I posted, filing taxes is something you are required to do as a green card holder. If you don’t, it could be argued that you have abandoned residency and lose your green card, your reentry permit notwithstanding. Even if you don’t lose your GC you will also not be able to naturalize if your tax affairs are outstanding.

I trust you have also registered for selective service if you are under 25.
 
Thank you very much Susie, I am not sure what selective service is, but I am above 25.
I must admit that my knowledge about rights and requirements of a GC holder is quite limited, I apologize for this.
However, I checked the eligibility filing a tax return, and it does not include incomes lower than 10,400 $ for singles below 65 years. Since I only earned bursaries and student loans in 2016 (both non-taxable) I believe I did not have to file it for 2016. For the 2018 deadline, I took a look at the form and it is nearly impossible for me to fill it by myself. My only option is to find an affordable service to fill it in for me. I saw some prices but they also refer to different version on 1040 (with schedules or not), which I have no idea about...
Any suggestion from you will be more than welcome, of course.
Thank you much.
 
I’m not a tax consultant. I can’t tell you how to fill it in. Yes it’s complicated and many people use consultants or software to help.
Most LPRs file tax returns even if under the threshold so that there can be no question of whether or not they fulfilled their obligations as green card holders. You can choose not to, if you ever naturalize they do ask on the form if you ever failed to file a return.
 
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