Hey /r/personalfinance, I would really appreciate if you could help me out on this one:
I was born outside of the US and spent most of my life (including my childhood) living in Germany, where I still live today. I am in my mid-twenties now. During the last 5-6 years, I wasn't making huge amounts of money; about €10-20k a year working part time to support my studies. I finished uni and started a full-time job in 2016, which is now earning me about €52k a year. Until recently, I was unaware of my US-citizenship. My father is a US citizen and got me a US passport shortly after I was born. Never talked to me about it, though...
As far as I know, the United States are the only country to impose federal taxes on non-residents. Is this always true? I have never lived or worked in the US. I went there once or twice as a tourist, that's it.
Do I need to file for US federal income tax? If so, where do I start? What should I expect, both in terms of bureaucracy and in terms of the total amount of outstanding tax payments (e.g. are we talking hundreds or more like thousands of dollars)? Could I face charges for not filing/paying all this time? Could I give up my US-citizenship to avoid these taxes in the future? I'm just a German dude living in Germany, happily paying German taxes. Why should I be paying US federal income taxes anyway?
Submitted October 01, 2017 at 04:36PM by _thr_owa_way http://ift.tt/2x6E8wh
