Preparing US tax forms for the first time

So I am preparing to file taxes for the first time after receiving my first US passport (I reside in the UK and gained US citizenship through my father, who is American).
I spoke to a chap at the IRS section of the US Embassy in London and he advised me I would need to fill out the 1040 and 1116 forms for the years I have been working, (3 years).
Upon looking at the forms I have discovered I will need a lot more help.
Does anyone know any places in the UK (preferably near Glasgow) that help with US tax forms?
Thanks.

Hi Windolow,
I remember you from Britishexpats.com. The IRS forms can be intimidating for someone use to the UK system, but they are simple once you've done them a couple of times. I'd strongly suggest you pay a professional to help you initially to make sure you get things right, then you can fill them out yourself. The good news is that you probably won't end up having to pay anything to the US.

Remember that if you have more than $10k in UK accounts you have to fill out another form called an FBAR. Also if your employer pays into a pension for you that has to be declared on your US taxes too. Stuff like that can be easily to miss which is why I recommend you talk to a professional.

I don't know of anyone in Glasgow, but Nicki Reynolds at Tower Tax has helped me in that past and British American Tax is good. Here are some links

http://www.towertax.com/

http://www.britishamericantax.com/

These guys advertise on uk-yankee, but i don't know anything about them
http://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/

and there's also this one who posts sometimes, but again I don't know anything about them
http://www.taxesforexpats.com/index.html

The big firms like Frank Hirth can also help, but they are expensive and I'm not sure of their service for "small accounts".

In addition, this is available from the IRS at the US Embassy. As nun has said, it may be difficult to locate anyone in any specific area outside of London.

http://photos.state.gov/libraries/unitedkingdom/164203/cons-acs/tax_preparation_services.pdf

Hello,

Generally it's not necessary to have a face-to-face meeting, so location isn't that important. About 90% of US tax returns are done via e-mail and on the phone. I don't actually know anyone who does it in Scotland, so if you did want a face-to-face, you'd have to travel down south to England.

The good news is that normally foreign tax credits (for UK tax paid) almost always set off any US tax due, so your tax bill is likely to be nil. The better news is you may well get a refund (depending on income and if you have kids due to things like the stimulus payment in 2008, making work pay in 2009 and 2010, and Additional Child Tax Credits (all years, if you have kids).

The good news is that normally foreign tax credits (for UK tax paid) almost always set off any US tax due, so your tax bill is likely to be nil. The better news is you may well get a refund (depending on income and if you have kids due to things like the stimulus payment in 2008, making work pay in 2009 and 2010, and Additional Child Tax Credits (all years, if you have kids).

The bad news might be FBAR.

FBAR is only a problem if tax/income was underdeclared. The IRS say here (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/international/article/0,,id=235699,00.html question 17):


I have properly reported all my taxable income but I only recently learned that I should have been filing FBARs in prior years to report my personal foreign bank account or to report the fact that I have signature authority over bank accounts owned by my employer. May I come forward under this new initiative to correct this?

The purpose for the voluntary disclosure practice is to provide a way for taxpayers who did not report taxable income in the past to come forward voluntarily and resolve their tax matters. Thus, if you reported and paid tax on all taxable income but did not file FBARs, do not use the voluntary disclosure process.

For taxpayers who reported and paid tax on all their taxable income for prior years but did not file FBARs, you should file the delinquent FBAR reports according to the instructions (send to Department of Treasury, Post Office Box 32621, Detroit, MI 48232-0621) and attach a statement explaining why the reports are filed late. The IRS will not impose a penalty for the failure to file the delinquent FBARs if there are no underreported tax liabilities and the FBARs are filed by August 31, 2011. However, FBARs for 2010 are due on June 30, 2011 and must be filed by that date

FBAR is only a problem if tax/income was underdeclared.

Everything is grand provided your definition of ‘all taxable income’ and ‘account’ matches the Treasury's definition. It always seems there's a 'saving clause' of some degree included. It's to the Treasury's advantage to have all the horror stories floating about, but it may ease concerns for those who haven't filed if successful late submissions were identified.

There might be a citizenship status issue here. The OP lives in the UK and got a US passport through his father. Would the IRS and Treasury take the position that he was a US citizen all along and impose the penalties for not filing of taxes and FBAR for years before he got the US passport....or would they just start his filing record from the time that he got his passport?
The fact that the OP has been asked to file for the 3 years he's been working just fuels my paranoia

Hi there,

I personally used taxesforexpats.com and would definitely recommend them. The tax preparer I worked with -  IJ Zemelman - was extremely knowledgeable and helpful, saving me a bundle over my previous tax firm who were clueless about expat tax.

Given the huge downside from doing your taxes wrong (a single mistake could cost thousands), I would definitely favor using a pro.