When do we stop filing?

When we move to the UK to settle for good do we have to file returns in the US after the calendar year we no longer live there.

For example:
We move to the UK in late 2008. We file in 2009 as we lived/worked in the US in 2008. But what about the 2009 year? Do we file as we did not work in the US in 2009?

DH is British and myself and our kids are going to be moving over for good on settlement visas. We have no plans on moving back to the states to live. We have been filing jointly since 1996 in the US.

1. If your husband has a green card he must file for ever unless he properly goes through the expatriation process.

2. You an the children must also file for ever if your incomes exceed your exemptions/deductions.

The US has worldwide tax for US persons so just leaving the country would not eliminate your obligation/s to file US tax returns.

2. You an the children must also file for ever if your incomes exceed your exemptions/deductions.

I think you have to file regardless... you just may not owe any money.

So what happens if you don't file?  What can they do to you, provided you are resident of another country, paying taxes there and have no intention of moving back to the US?  Just curious.

He does have his green card.

So the only way out of this is if we give up our "rights" to the US? Him giving up his green card? And the kids and I becoming UK citizens, giving up the US so to say? Or am I wrong?

He does have his green card.

So the only way out of this is if we give up our "rights" to the US? Him giving up his green card? And the kids and I becoming UK citizens, giving up the US so to say? Or am I wrong?

he'll lose his green card anyway after a certain period of time. i think you, as a citizen will find it difficult to give up your domicile in the US just from reading other posts on this subject.

This is a visa question, but if the kids and I become UK citizens through naturalization would we not give up the US as our domicile?

This is more of a legal question than a tax question.  The answer is long, complicated, and covers loads of factors you haven't posted.  It would take me at least an hour to answer comprehensively.  Invariably, at least one other person on this forum would disagree, post an equally lengthy and erudite reply, leaving you more confused than ever. 

Any answer posted here must be applicable to anyone in remotely similar situations, and thus answers posted here must be extremely conservative and can not take into account shades of grey or any bits of your personal info you might have unwittingly not mentioned.

If you ask it here, you will not necessarily get the answer you are looking for, and you may unwittingly back yourself into a legal corner where you are stuck with a less-than-desirable result simply because you've laid it all out in black and white on the internet for everyone (the government) to see.  If you ask it of a tax accountant or a lawyer in a paid for session, you will get the right answer, specific to you and only to you.

This is a visa question, but if the kids and I become UK citizens through naturalization would we not give up the US as our domicile?

i think the short answer is not necessarily. i agree with the previous poster to check with a tax lawyer. Also read through the past posts in this forum. I know this has been discussed recently.

ladybugga - your post raises a number of points exactly as Lizzit points out.

1. Green card
The natural expiration of a green card does not terminate its validity either for tax or immigration purposes.  To terminate the green card for immigration purposes you have to file a form I-407 and for tax purposes the I-407 and an extra IRS form 8854 have to be filed.

2. Domicile
From a US State perspective domicile is based purely on facts and circumstances.  So depending on which State you are in, the laws on domicile will be based on Court decisions and State law based mainly around where you live and have your main connections.

The UK uses a different definition based entirely on UK case law from the 13th and 14th centuries onwards.  The UK will have you, spouse and kids each domiciled at birth in the State/country where your father was domiciled at your birth.  If you settle elsewhere for ever, eg in England; you become domiciled in that country/State. Acquiring nationality is of itself not sufficient evidence of change of domicile unless it is don with the express intention of changing domicile (it my just be done to shorten queues at airports).

Because the UK uses fathers domicile at your birth as your place of domicile until/unless changed it could be a place you have never ever lived if you never settle anywhere expecting to remain for ever.

I agree with Lizzit and julia_atlanta that if you are puzzled over taxes or want advice to clear up the concepts,  you should take advice from a dual US/UK qualified adviser (to save you paying for two separate sets of advisers).  Good luck with the move!