Am I liable for taxes in the US?

Hi! Can you please help me understand something...

I do freelance writing. If I take some on some American clients (I'm a US citizen) will I have to pay taxes on the earnings in the US or the UK? Does it matter if the money is deposited into an American or British account? Most of my American clients want to pay money into an American account, but I'd rather just being paying taxes in the UK (I don't earn enough for normal double taxation anyway) and not have to mess with the IRS beyond filing a return and the other things they require.

Thank you! 

It doesn’t matter where the money is deposited or in which currency when it comes to taxable income. Both the US and UK tax on worldwide income.

I have US pensions paid into a US bank and have mandatory US tax withheld. Those pensions (plus other US income such as stock dividends) are also taxed by HMRC after conversion to £s. When I file my US taxes I include forms 1116 for foreign tax credits to reduce my US taxes. (I am a USC resident in the UK). On the 1116 forms I check the box “Resourced by Treaty” to indicate that the income is being taxed first by the UK.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will comment but I THINK that is how it works

If you're living in the UK and you're a USC, you get to file taxes both places. But you'll really only pay one place. UK gives you a tax-free allowance of 11,850 pounds and then it's a progressive tax for anything above that. So you pay it, then claim it against anything you owe the IRS. If you don't earn at least the 11,850 pounds, you'll not pay to the UK (but you do have to report it). You'll pay Uncle Sugar instead.

In the UK you calculate your profit for your accounting period, make any adjustments for tax and pay UK tax & NIC on the taxable profit. The UK charges you to tax on worldwide profits.  As a US citizen you similarly figure out your taxable worldwide profits; adjust these for US tax purposes if needed and report the profit as taxable. The United States gives a credit for UK income tax.

Being practical, you may wish to adopt a 31 December accounting year-end to save having too prepare two different sets of accounts (financial statements) each year.