April 15th is approaching and every American knows what this day represents: Taxes are Due! Not giving too much thought to paying American taxes since I haven't lived there in almost 2 years...I was close to forgetting all together about my patriotic duties as an American citizen.
I realized somewhat recently that even though I'm living and working in France, I do indeed still need to pay US income tax! Ahhh...and the confusion begins. I'm looking at the Assistants in France forum to read about how other assistants did this. Apparently there is a special tax form that exists for Americans living abroad. As an assistant I worked only 7 months last year in 2008, which means that I made about 5,600€ = $7,400. Apparently if I made less than $8,000 than I won't have to pay taxes. Now, this is not including the money that I made at the internship this past summer. I was paid 300€/month x4 months. The question is whether I should include this money on my taxes forms? It wasn't registered on any official form and it was paid in cash. Maybe I shouldn't even be writing about such a subject on a blog. LOL
And even more confusing than paying US taxes abroad, is paying French taxes. I have to track down a specific form from the rectorat (I think) and fill it out similarly to a US tax form. However, it's not over yet. I also have to pay a Taxe d'habitation from last year. I was supposed to have recieved this form in the mail but I never did. I moved out of that apartment last April and apparently I didn't give any follow up address. So with me risking a lot of problems in France if I'm still here in the future, I should probably contact the nice tax people and tell them to send me the tax form. I'm crossing my fingers that I don't owe too much.
Tonight is also Daylight savings in France or L'heure d'été (the hour of summer) which means summer will be here soon! I can't stand these long winters. I think i'm destined to live in a tropical island because I honestly wouldn't mind living in 85° weather year-round.
If anyone has any advice about filling out either US or French tax forms, please feel free to leavd a comment. Bon weekend!
5 comments:
Don't worry, you won't have to pay any French taxes - you don't make enough as an assistant. If you're planning on sticking around France though, it's definitely worth it to still declare (and you can also declare last year's as well). Plus French tax forms are SUPER easy for assistants - you literally fill in two or three boxes and sign the form, and voilà!
You're not eligible for the foreign tax exclusion? If you've been here for at least a year and (are attempting to) pay French taxes, seems like you would be. 330 days or a "bona fide" resident. That's what I did this year, and haven't gotten any angry letters yet demanding money!
Yea I have to do a little bit more research but I'm hoping that I won't have struggle too much. Thanks for the comments!
French taxes are sooo easy to fill out. But like Sam said, you don't technically have to since you don't make enough.
The US taxes are a little more complicated, but you can probably used form 2555EZ for the exclusion (as long as you were out of the US for 330 days). I have some self-employment money from Google Ads, so I have to use form 2555 instead, but it's basically the same. let me know if you need help.
Hey Jennie, thanks for your advice as well. I just printed out the 2555EZ form and I'm going to send it in. But I'm having doubts about whether its the right one or not. I've been a living here since September 2007 but I've went to the US for 3 weeks so I don't know if that discounts me. I'm going to try anyway. I'm not too worried about French taxes. I'm just going to let them contact me when they feel like it.
Post a Comment