US Taxes & Child Benefit

I'm a stay-at-home mum and have filed in the past and never owed anything, but didn't file in 2019 because I had zero income. Well, I thought! I recently got to wondering about child benefit... I did a search and someone said to include it on the tax return under 'other income'.

Do I need to file if I'm the one named to receive child benefit for our child but have no other income?
What if it's going into my husband's account?

Would love to make life simpler, but don't want to get caught out down the road.

(And maybe I should try to file back tax for 2019 to be included in the Economic Impact Payment--but maybe it's too late for that anyway?)

Yes, it’s considered income.  Which means you’ll have met the filing threshold of $5.

If the payment is in your husbands name, you won’t need to file tax.

The deadline for the stimulus was Oct 31.  Bummer!  But if you filed in 2018, you should have received it/qualify.

Just make sure your name is not on child benefit if you are still under a visa that does not give access to public funds, as child benefit is a public fund.

Yes, it’s considered income.  Which means you’ll have met the filing threshold of $5.

Thanks for the reply!! Ugh, that crazy change to a $5 filing threshold! 

If the payment is in your husbands name, you won’t need to file tax.

You mean I should be ok if it's going into his account? Or that I'd need to switch it from my NI record to his?

Thankfully I got ILR before baby came and am a dual US/UKC now so no worries about public funds.

You’d need to switch from your NI to his to not have to file taxes.  However, claiming child benefit contributes to your pension if I recall correctly.  So you may want to consider filing (it’s so easy and if you use foreign tax credits you actually RECEIVE $1,400 per child each year).

Great news that you can take public funds.   

Ah, got it. Yeah, I definitely need those NI credits so I'm just gonna have to file. And wow, I just did a quick search and now realized I should definitely use FTC instead of FEIE. Thank you again KFdancer, you're truly a star!!!

Ah, got it. Yeah, I definitely need those NI credits so I'm just gonna have to file. And wow, I just did a quick search and now realized I should definitely use FTC instead of FEIE. Thank you again KFdancer, you're truly a star!!!

Happy to guide you further when you get to that point.

I walked so many moms through their taxes this year that I’m going to do a video next year.  Seriously!

As your income was greater than US$5 you had a US filing requirement.  Was an FBAR filed? If not, the FBAR for 2019 would also be late. Unless/ until you have earned income there is no US refundable child credit available.

Happy to guide you further when you get to that point.

I walked so many moms through their taxes this year that I’m going to do a video next year.  Seriously!

Really appreciate the offer. A video would be GREAT, you should totally do it! (If only to save yourself the time, haha.)

As your income was greater than US$5 you had a US filing requirement.  Was an FBAR filed? If not, the FBAR for 2019 would also be late. Unless/ until you have earned income there is no US refundable child credit available.

Thank you for those important points. Yeah, I was reading this morning and realized I'd need a minimum of $2500 in earned income to qualify. Bummer. And yeah, I also have realized that my FBAR will be late as well; I was under the impression that it was part of tax filing and since I thought I didn't have to file a 1040, same went for FBAR. I definitely need to do my homework better - having a kid really messed me up! 

I also just saw this:

A6. Payments will be made throughout the rest of 2020. If you don’t receive a Payment this year, you can also claim it by filing a tax return for 2020 next year.

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/economic-impact-payment-information-center-topic-b-requesting-my-economic-impact-payment

Maybe I'm not totally out of luck?

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/delinquent-fbar-submission-procedures