Wages

OK, just getting into the taxes and starting to stress. Couple of questions I should remember the answers to, but I don't.

1. Turbotax wants to know if we got a W2 for Social Security. We did not get a W2, but did get a 1099 with the yearly amount. Should I put yes for getting a W2?
2. My pension counts as wages? It's on last years TurboTax so I figure it does. Also not a W2, but a 1099R.
3. My withdrawal of funds from my retirement savings. Also on a 1099R. Goes down as wages?
4. I will also add my interest from bank accounts, 1 year bonds etc at some later point in the program I believe......

OK, just getting into the taxes and starting to stress. Couple of questions I should remember the answers to, but I don't.

1. Turbotax wants to know if we got a W2 for Social Security. We did not get a W2, but did get a 1099 with the yearly amount. Should I put yes for getting a W2?
2. My pension counts as wages? It's on last years TurboTax so I figure it does. Also not a W2, but a 1099R.
3. My withdrawal of funds from my retirement savings. Also on a 1099R. Goes down as wages?
4. I will also add my interest from bank accounts, 1 year bonds etc at some later point in the program I believe......

None of what you say goes down as wages which are only reported on a W-2.

Social Security is reported on an SSA-1099
https://www.irs.gov/faqs/social-security-income

Social security benefits include monthly retirement, survivor and disability benefits. They don't include supplemental security income (SSI) payments, which aren't taxable. The net amount of social security benefits that you receive from the Social Security Administration is reported in Box 5 of Form SSA-1099, Social Security Benefit Statement, and you report that amount on line 5a of Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return or Form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors (PDF). The taxable portion of the benefits that's included in your income and used to calculate your income tax liability depends on the total amount of your income and benefits for the taxable year. You report the taxable portion of your social security benefits on line 5b of Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR.

Pensions are reported on a 1099-R, as are withdrawals from retirement funds.

When TurboTax asks if you received any wages or W-2s the answer is "no"

Just wondering why after clicking the "did you receive SS last year" did they ask if we got a W2? Is SS sometimes considered as a wage?

Schedule B, Part III is completed in 100% of cases.

Schedule B, Part III is completed in 100% of cases.

So I'll end up filling in SS info later on in TurboTax (after I put no in for the W2 question)? I know that SS isn't to be taxed in the US, only the UK.......will TTax take that into account, or does it not come up?

So I'll end up filling in SS info later on in TurboTax (after I put no in for the W2 question)? I know that SS isn't to be taxed in the US, only the UK.......will TTax take that into account, or does it not come up?

I’ve not had to do it yet, but I can run a trial tomorrow and let you know since I have TurboTax on my laptop.

I’ve not had to do it yet, but I can run a trial tomorrow and let you know since I have TurboTax on my laptop.

Thanks, I just need to sit down and pound TTax out in the next day or two. Today I was getting the several interest (bank, 1 year bonds etc) account amounts written down. FBAR is easy enough.....I don't know if doing FATCA is the same.

Thanks, I just need to sit down and pound TTax out in the next day or two. Today I was getting the several interest (bank, 1 year bonds etc) account amounts written down. FBAR is easy enough.....I don't know if doing FATCA is the same.

What’s the rush? You have until June 15 to do your IRS return.

FATCA is easy to do if you have to. TTax walks you through it.

Reporting Thresholds are much higher than the FBAR  one so you possibly won’t be needing to do FATCA reporting with your IRS return. We’ve only had to do it once, the year we bought our UK house.

Reporting thresholds vary based on whether you file a joint income tax return or live abroad. If you are single or file separately from your spouse, you must submit a Form 8938 if you have more than $200,000 of specified foreign financial assets at the end of the year and you live abroad; or more than $50,000, if you live in the United States. If you file jointly with your spouse, these thresholds double. You are considered to live abroad if you are a U.S. citizen whose tax home is in a foreign country and you have been present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 days out of a consecutive 12-month period.

What’s the rush? You have until June 15 to do your IRS return.

FATCA is easy to do if you have to. TTax walks you through it.

Reporting Thresholds are much higher than the FBAR  one so you possibly won’t be needing to do FATCA reporting with your IRS return. We’ve only had to do it once, the year we bought our UK house.

I should have everything to do  my taxes now......I'm good at putting it off, so if I've got the head of steam up to get it done....I'm better off getting to it instead of it hanging over my head. I should be over the FATCA limit.

I added Social Security to my test IRS return this morning, adding an SSA-1099 and following the interview steps.  It gets it wrong. I was hoping/expecting line 5a on the 1040 to show the full amount of SS and line 5b showing the amount taxable to be zero, but no such luck.  It has 85% of my SS to be taxable which would be the case if I was resident in the USA.

Maybe someone here can shed some light, meanwhile I will try to ask questions on the TurboTax site.

I added Social Security to my test IRS return this morning, adding an SSA-1099 and following the interview steps.  It gets it wrong. I was hoping/expecting line 5a on the 1040 to show the full amount of SS and line 5b showing the amount taxable to be zero, but no such luck.  It has 85% of my SS to be taxable which would be the case if I was resident in the USA.

Maybe someone here can shed some light, meanwhile I will try to ask questions on the TurboTax site.

Here is the answer according to Intuit (TurboTax)

Report the income in the social security section of your tax return (to satisfy the IRS), then make an adjustment on the line 21 of the 1040. Select Less Common Income, Miscellaneous Income, Other Reportable Income. Enter a description, then a negative number. From the IRS link below.

 

Claiming Tax Treaty Benefits | Internal Revenue Service

If a tax treaty between the United States and your country provides an exemption from, or a reduced rate of, withholding for certain items of income, you should notify the payor of the income (the withholding agent) of your foreign status to claim the benefits of the treaty. In addition, you should complete Form 8833 Treaty-Based Return Disclosure, and attach it to your 1040.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/claiming-tax-treaty-benefits

I tried the solution on entering negative income to offset the taxable SS and that worked fine.  However, TurboTax does not provide form 8833 so I asked what the solution to that is and the answer is to manually complete form 8833 and attach it to your printed return and file by mail.

A person last year said he had already e-filed before realising that he needed to add the 8833 and the reply was as follows:

‎

June 7, 2019 4:51 PM
If you need to attach Form 8833 to your tax return and it has already been processed and accepted by the IRS, then you will have to file an amended tax return, Form 1040X.  Before amending the tax return wait for the IRS to send you the tax refund or if you have taxes owed then for the IRS to process the tax payment.  Do not file your amended return before the IRS has processed your return and has any refund or balance due with the original return has been received and processed.

When you amend your return, you will not change anything in TurboTax.  You just need to add an explanation that you are only amending the return to attach the Form 8833 which was not attached to the original return that was sent.

If you want you can print out Form 1040X and complete it by hand.  Just make sure to attach your return and Form 8833 to the return before you mail it.  You can also find the mailing address with the Form and Instructions as to where it should be mailed.

Form 1040X - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040x.pdf

Form 1040X Instructions https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040x.pdf

RS Form 8833 Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b) - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8833.pdf

So it looks like I may have to file by mail this year? ......and maybe every year. I can live with that....

Thanks for all of this info......

So it looks like I may have to file by mail this year? ......and maybe every year. I can live with that....

Thanks for all of this info......

You are more than welcome.  We will be facing exactly the same problem in 2 years when my wife starts drawing her SS.

We have to mail in our returns anyway and my advice is don't use the Post Office because it gets passed onto the USPS which sucks. Each year I have sent it via the Post Office with tracking and what happens is that it arrives in the US the day after I send it, and then it spends WEEKS making its way through the USPS.  I sign up for USPS email alerts each time it moves and some of the alerts are simply because because it has moved from one location to another in the same US sorting office. This year I will be sending it via Fedex, costs a bit more I'm sure, but I can't stand the tension watching the incredibly slow process as it crawls its way through the USPS