Filing online electronic pin?

Hi
I have lived in the UK for over 10 years and have been dutifully reporting my tiny NHS income each year to the IRS through forms 1040 and 2555ez no problemo

Am I correct in hearing we have to file online now ? I tried to access the IRS site where it says request electronic pin and it says request it through help section. Also we need our gross income from 2012 which I think works out as (-) through the tax treaty

Anyhow am I doing something wrong cuz it doesn't allow me to obtain electronic pin online or is it cuz u need to wait til Feb? Thanks

Happy New Year!

The IRS are not accepting any 2013 returns at all until 31 January 2013; but you can still file on paper after that if you wish.

FBARS must now be filed online.

Your income will never be zero if you are an employee of the NHS and a US citizen; because the treaty does not exempt employment income.

Your may decide to elect to claim the foreign earned income exclusion if this results in the lowest tax; but the value of your employer's pension contributions to the NHS pension scheme will remain taxable as they cannot be excluded by the foreign earned income exclusion.

Your profile signature mentions a 3 year old fairy princess. You would almost certainly qualify for a $1,000 per year refund if you did not claim the foreign earned income exclusion, but claimed the refundable child credit instead. If you have not claimed this in the past, you may want to amend past returns to generate the refunds you may have overlooked.