UK US Tax specializes in producing U.S. federal, state and local income tax returns for both American expatriates and non U.S. persons with U.S. filing obligations. For U.S. citizens and greencard holders, we produce the following tax returns:
- Form 1040s, including the schedules necessary for U.S. individuals living abroad, such as the foreign tax credit schedule (Form 1116), the foreign earned income exclusion (Form 2555) and the newly required foreign asset disclosure report (Form 8938);
- Foreign Bank Account Reporting Forms (the so-called FBARs) listing bank accounts in which U.S. citizens either have a beneficial interest or signatory rights;
- U.S. owned foreign corporation income and balance sheet reports (Form 5471);
- U.S. connected foreign trust reports (Forms 3520 and 3520-A); and
- Applicable state and local filings.
We specialize in the preparation of these returns and recognize the various elections that can be made to reduce U.S. taxes or increase the utilization of foreign tax credits. For example, we do not slavishly file the foreign earned income exclusion for highly paid U.S. expatriate workers – often the foreign tax credit cost does not justify filing claiming the earned income exclusion and perversely creates a higher U.S. tax liability.
Non U.S. citizens also have U.S. filing obligations, either as a result of spending sufficient days in the United States to meet the substantial presence U.S. residency rules or as a result of U.S. business or investment activities, including owning U.S. real estate. We regularly prepare U.S. tax returns for such individuals, including taking advantage of provisions in the U.S./U.K. income tax treaty (or other treaties) that, for example, may allow a foreign individual to avoid U.S. worldwide taxation even though the person is U.S. resident under applicable U.S. rules.
We have a number of foreign corporate clients. These clients typically are required to file U.S. tax returns as a result of receiving U.S. source active business income (“effectively connected income”) or more passive types of investment income, including income from U.S. real property investments.
Finally, through a joint venture agreement with PKF (Channel Islands) Ltd, we prepare tax returns for partnerships with U.S. filing obligations that have invested in Channel Islands based funds. A more detailed description of that joint venture can be viewed at www.ustaxservicesci.com.