Lame tax question?

ok...so i understand that now that i am in the UK i am still going to have to pay US taxes...blah, blah, blah.  but my lame question is:  do i have to pay taxes in the US for the rest of my life (assuming i live in UK forever)?  is there some sort of cut off period...like when i have naturalization or something?

Unless you formally renounce US citizenship AND file a special form with the IRS the answer is NEVER.  As a US citizen you have the rights & privileges of pursuit of happiness, voting for the President, lobbying your Congressperson & filing US taxes for ever...(it is the 16th amendment you have to blame!)

oh great!!  i'm so excited now   

well then i have another question which may be a bit more difficult to answer.....

assuming that i don't have any assets (house, 401K, bonds, CD's, etc) in either country....how much tax am i going to have to pay if i make say, $50,000?  i mean, are we talking like $500?  $3,000?  $20 (i wish!!!)?

Real simple!

No/zero US tax; just UK taxes ...

those were supposed to be pound signs instead of dollar signs in my last post....i'm still trying to get used to the change....

but now i'm confused....if i don't have any assets in either country as i mentioned in my last post, and am only working in UK making UK wages and paying UK taxes accordingly, then why do i even need to file a US tax return? 

maybe i don't know as much about this whole daul tax thing as i thought...

those were supposed to be pound signs instead of dollar signs in my last post....i'm still trying to get used to the change....

but now i'm confused....if i don't have any assets in either country as i mentioned in my last post, and am only working in UK making UK wages and paying UK taxes accordingly, then why do i even need to file a US tax return? 

maybe i don't know as much about this whole daul tax thing as i thought...

so they know that you don't have anything worth stealing.  That's why you still have to file a US tax return.

oh....i got it now!!!   so i file....they don't owe me anything and i don't owe them.  sounds fine to me....just a bunch of stupid paperwork.

thanks guys!!

i understood the cut off point to be $80,000 USD.  if your worldwide income was greater than this, then you will have some US taxes to pay.  what exchange rate do they use becuase £50,000 is $86,000 with today's exchange rate....

i understood the cut off point to be $80,000 USD.  if your worldwide income was greater than this, then you will have some US taxes to pay.  what exchange rate do they use becuase £50,000 is $86,000 with today's exchange rate....

There's an officially set exchange rate every year at tax time. I'm sure someone will post it at some point soon.

And yes, it's correct that if you make enough money you do have to pay US taxes. It's far more than I am likely to ever make in my line of work.... Don't know if I'm pleased about that or not!! 

i understood the cut off point to be $80,000 USD.  if your worldwide income was greater than this, then you will have some US taxes to pay.  what exchange rate do they use because £50,000 is $86,000 with today's exchange rate....

Even if you make over the equivalent of $80,000 you don't necessarily have to pay any US tax.  There is a form you can use to exclude any amount over $80k, its Form 1116  - Foreign Tax Credit.