US Tax by August 31 2011

Actually this is an important story for some Americans I know living here, people who make a lot, lot more money than I do and who, for whatever reason, left their head stuck in the sand about the obligation to file U.S. tax returns even though they have been living abroad. I educated them, last year, and I think one has appropriately responded by getting his accountant involved and paying attention . . . another one I suspect has continued to be in denial. They have much more at stake than they might realize.

Thus, I really appreciate your bringing this to my attention and for sure I will be letting them know about the OVDI program the story discusses. Time is running out. This is a big deal.

Otherwise:

Canada makes it worthwhile to file their income tax returns no matter how little income one has, so the failure to file an income tax return for residents of Canada is in itself a red flag (as in what, why not).

Even for Canadian citizens, if they are not residents they do not need to file a Canadian return (unless they have Canadian source income).

Americans, though . . . well . . . the reach of the Empire is globally pervasive.

However, for very low income persons the U.S. is a different story: if a person does not have income above the respective thresholds (depending on the source of the income; those with self-employment income have a lower threshold pursuant to which they are obligated to file a return) there is no obligation to file a return and no real incentive to do so either. If one is not going to get a refund or rebate or is looking for credit for FICA payments or such, there really is no reason to file. In the course of many decades (marking another just this week), I have had a few, lets say, drought years, and did not file for those years, and while I did have my IRS problems earlier in life (problems indeed), not filing for years in which I had less income than the thresholds was not a problem.