Tax Treaties and Permanent Home Rules

Today we’re going to look at permanent home status for Americans living and working abroad..

What is a Permanent Home?

A permanent home is a feature under tax treaties. There are a lot of countries that have this provision of the tax treaty and generally it has to do with the tiebreaker rules. If you're a resident of the US, in other words, you can tip the scales to be a resident in the US, then you're taxed in the US, which you're always going to be taxed if you're a US citizen. However, it limits the ability of your host country to tax you to only income that is sourced in that country.

Permanent Home Rules

Let's review the permanent home rules.

  • One of the easiest ways to prove that you have a permanent home outside of your host country is to obtain a certificate of residency. You can do that by filing form 8802. This is the form that's filed with the US government and you get a letter back saying you're a resident of the US. If you're a resident of the US under the tiebreaker rules and the permanent home, that's pretty much the end of the story. You can give that proof to any auditor from your host country.
  • The other way you can prove you have a permanent home is if you obtain a lease. A longterm lease in America or if you purchase real estate in America it’ s a lot easier to prove you have a permanent home in America.
  • An unwritten rule here is that if you have a visa that limits you to how long you can stay in a country it’s difficult to prove permanent home status in that country. It’s hard for the host country to make the case that you have a permanent home in their country if you're limited and prohibited by a visa from staying there long term.

Minimizing tax exposure

  • Auditors are not easily persuaded. One of the things you might do to minimize potential tax exposure is to split your w2's and have federal income tax because the auditor is going to want to see if you’re paying taxes in the country. This way you can say yes, here's a copy of my w2. You have federal income tax withheld that says you're paying federal income tax to America, therefore your permanent home is in America, not on the host country.
  • Some employers will hire both husband and wife and just give a w2 to one of them. If your employer does this, you can split your wages and take advantage of the lower tax rate in case you lose your case. You end up utilizing the ower taxes by splitting your wages between two w2s.
  • You can also consider filing a nonresident return in your host country. This way, whatever source income you have from your host country you report on that, nonresident returns. This could be interest, it can be wages from local employers, etc. This starts the statute of limitations. Statute of limitations is how long that taxing jurisdiction can go back and audit you. Once the statute of limitation starts, generally in America, the timeframe is 3 to 4 years.
  • Most importantly, because tax treaties are very fact dependent, it is very important to get competent tax advisors both in your host country and in the US. You don't just want someone who knows the tax law in your host country, you want someone who knows the tax law and how they impact Americans because Americans are taxed on their worldwide earnings. This is unique among many countries. You want someone who is competent locally that knows and works with Americans, and you want someone in the US who's familiar with Americans living and working abroad.

To learn more about permanent home status and speak about your unique situation, contact us today.

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