Pop the champagne I just filed my first FBAR

Vanguard site says $17,653 ($768 short term) gains. Problem is.....and I don't know if it will crop up or not..... is the gains I had a few years ago with Edward Jones. When I switched things over I'm not sure what happened and whether there are some more gains in the Vanguard that don't show up. Vanguard only shows gains since the money has been with them. Not sure what happened to the gains while I was with EJones in the move to Vanguard. It was a bit confusing.....and there were some issues with EJones later because of some semi-nasty stuff they did to me.

The $17K in gains is fine if that's all there are and I would still be under the filing separately limits for no tax for CGains in 2014 so I might give it a whirl and see if the IRS cord to my wife can be cut starting in 2014 if I can.   

And then I starting thinking again (always scary).....I can't cut the cord with the IRS as long as my wife still has her Green Card can I? That won't be until this current year if things go right. Now....if I can file separately for 2014 whether she has the Green Card or not it might be worth doing.

Vanguard site says $17,653 ($768 short term) gains. Problem is.....and I don't know if it will crop up or not..... is the gains I had a few years ago with Edward Jones. When I switched things over I'm not sure what happened and whether there are some more gains in the Vanguard that don't show up. Vanguard only shows gains since the money has been with them. Not sure what happened to the gains while I was with EJones in the move to Vanguard. It was a bit confusing.....and there were some issues with EJones later because of some semi-nasty stuff they did to me.

The $17K in gains is fine if that's all there are and I would still be under the filing separately limits for no tax for CGains in 2014 so I might give it a whirl and see if the IRS cord to my wife can be cut starting in 2014 if I can.   

It sounds like any realized gains on those funds that were not reported correctly would likely be reported by EJones, but I agree that you won't know for certain what Vanguard is going to report until you get the tax forms from them.  (I usually do an import into TurboTax directly from Vanguard when I do the taxes, and then check the forms to see that all the numbers look as if they have gone into the forms and fields I would expect).  Imports are usually available mid to end of February IIRC.

theOAP- You sound confident of things on this......hope so.

1. If we can sell the house and get outta here this Spring....my wife and I will have only been in the US 4 years (4 years the middle of June this year) so the LTR issue should be zapped.

2. I am assuming that 8 year rule is only while we are living in the US? We are just coming up on our 8th year anniversary 10 Feb. The LTR starts with the Green Card (2011)? which is basically the same time as we have been in the US? 

The reason I brought up expatriation issues for your wife is that by electing to MFJ the IRS considers your wife to be a US tax resident. In 8854 instructions the IRS defines LTR with reference to the INS and Greencards so maybe you are ok and the years you did MFJ from the UK will not count towards LTR years. I would probably double check.

3. So if I am able to revert back to filing separately.....can I do it for 2014 or do I have to wait for 2015 or later? I was kind of planning on waiting until either this year(2015) or next year so I could sell off as much of my Vanguard as possible to get a money stash to buy a house in the UK sometime in the next year or two. Ifffff I can do it for 2014 then I guess I will need to check to see how much my CGains were on the funds I sold this last September ($124K). Hopefully the Vanguard tax forms should have that on it. If I can keep my CGains on the $124K down far enough I would just file Separately for 2014.

This process......although I am clicking the pieces slowly together, (I feel someone has stolen a few pieces out of the jigsaw just to see if I go insane)......is steadily more confusing than thought. It really is a case of the more you learn....the less you realize you know. Just when I think I kind of understand things....someone throws out something else important that I just didn't know about. I am really starting to think that there are very few accountants/tax people etc. that would be able to keep all this info straight.

If you are going to MFJ for the first year back in the UK you'll benefit from higher US thresholds, but I would investigate how you and your wife will do your UK self assessment. The UK does not have MFJ and I wonder how you would separate you incomes and deal with the tax treaty. It might not be an issue, but I just found myself wondering how it works.

The reason I brought up expatriation issues for your wife is that by electing to MFJ the IRS considers your wife to be a US tax resident. In 8854 instructions the IRS defines LTR with reference to the INS and Greencards so maybe you are ok and the years you did MFJ from the UK will not count towards LTR years. I would probably double check.
Will do. Might just run down to the SS office....but not confident they can answer these kinds of questions with confidence......not exactly what they ever have to deal with. I was down there a few months ago for another issue.....long haired guy at the booth who automatically thought I was there to try to take advantage of the system and was quite negative before I even started.

If you are going to MFJ for the first year back in the UK you'll benefit from higher US thresholds, but I would investigate how you and your wife will do your UK self assessment. The UK does not have MFJ and I wonder how you would separate you incomes and deal with the tax treaty. It might not be an issue, but I just found myself wondering how it works.

That's kind of the question. Do I bother to file jointly for 2014? or just get it over with and try filing separately now? As far as filing in the UK....I figured I have no choice on pension income ($25,560 now...$31356 with SS in 4 years)....but.......taking the SS out (only taxed in the UK....which still just boggles my brain) drops back to $15,348 for just pension (including health insurance). And.....then .....whatever I take out of TSP/Vanguard which I will need to do a little bit of. Part of me just wants to make this easier for me.....and eventually (assuming I die first.....can't see how that doesn't happen with me being an idiot) for my wife. Filing separately will work with taking money out of my savings (TSP/Vanguard) .....we don't need much since we are so boring.

There is dumb ol' saying.......Math is hard. I would say....moving back to the UK makes Math look like a pansy (not the real pansy of course....quite pretty).

Stopped in at the IRS office here in Spokane today.....when I first explained what we were after (getting my UK wife off of my US taxes) he just answered..."Sure.....why not....just do it". Then.....he listened a little more and got more facts (like the revoking letter she would need to write) and you could see the wheels turning when it all started sinking in and then he clammed up like he was under the secrets act or something. Basically just said that he shouldn't be answering questions about this topic...in fact shouldn't try.....just gave me the phone number for the International tax IRS office and said I needed to talk to them. He was pleasant enough.....kind of funny the way he backtracked though.....

Stopped in at the IRS office here in Spokane today.....when I first explained what we were after (getting my UK wife off of my US taxes) he just answered..."Sure.....why not....just do it". Then.....he listened a little more and got more facts (like the revoking letter she would need to write) and you could see the wheels turning when it all started sinking in and then he clammed up like he I was under the secrets act or something. Basically just said that he shouldn't be answering questions about this topic...in fact shouldn't try.....just gave me the phone number for the International tax IRS office and said I needed to talk to them. He was pleasant enough.....kind of funny the way he backtracked though.....

I don't think this is surprising, can't expect regular, domestic IRS staff to know all of this international stuff. He obviously quickly realized that he was out of his depth as he listened to you.

Nah......I wasn't surprised at all. Just thought I would give it a shot. I told him towards the end I wasn't surprised that he couldn't help and there were some people I have been communicating with (you folks) who have way more experience/knowledge than me and that very few people really seem to know what to do. He just laughed and said that was probably true.

The IRS folks at the US Embassy in London would know the answer, but as the office is closing that source of information will be going away.

Good luck with that phone number........

Basically just said that he shouldn't be answering questions about this topic...in fact shouldn't try.....just gave me the phone number for the International tax IRS office and said I needed to talk to them.

If the response from International is the same as it was for any questions concerning 8938, the reply will be "we're not allowed to discuss this. Contact a tax advisor".