Event Detail

2011 came and went uneventfully as compared to the eleventh hour tax showdown in late December, 2010. As the extension of the Bush era tax cuts comes to an end on December 31, 2012, are we headed for another year-end showdown? The existing U.S. Congress is confronted with some major decisions about our future tax policy, including some international initiatives. However, this being a Presidential election year, and with a current Congress not known for compromise, it would seem that any meaningful long-term tax legislation will have to wait. At present, the Administration's Revenue Proposal (the "Greenbook"), aka the President's "wish list", seems to be going nowhere. Will the post-election bring the country more years of acrimonious politics or compromised change? All the above uncertainties add to the stress of the U.S. tax system, and taxpayers are unable to plan for the future. While we cannot predict the future tax changes, we can try to better understand our existing tax laws. As we prepare our 2011 tax returns, some of the specific items of interest to U.S. individuals living abroad are the foreign earned income exclusions, AMT relief, elimination of the itemized and other deduction phase-out limits, Roth conversion rules, temporary cut in social security taxes, proposed changes in dividend and capital gain taxation, and the revised foreign bank account reporting rules. Perhaps the most talked about reporting addition is the new Form 8938 for reporting of specified foreign financial assets. Who will need to file this form? What foreign financial assets need to be reported? Is FBAR reporting still necessary? When does the form need to be filed and what are the penalties for noncompliance? With these changes in mind, the ACCJ, with the help of PwC, is pleased to sponsor this presentation on the U.S. individual tax changes applicable to tax year 2011, as well as an overview of taxation of U.S. citizens and residents living abroad.