This is really hard to put in a title, so I'm going to try to explain it here. Also, I am resubmitting this post to meet sub rules on mentioning... current events. TL;DR at bottom.
Context:
I was born in Canada, and while my mom is fully Canadian, my dad is fully American. My dad registered me as a US citizen born abroad a few months after I was born, but never really explained it to my mom. When I was 2 years old, my mom and I moved to Texas to be with my dad. Things only lasted a few months, however, and I came back to Canada with my mom. I have never lived in the US since then, and have never worked in the US. However, at some point, I got a US SSN in my name. This might have happened when I was a newborn, when I was registered as a US citizen born abroad. But regardless, I didn't know at the time and neither did my mom.
My mom never saw the papers, and while I wound up getting photocopies a few years ago, I didn't really realize what situation I was in. Over the years, a lot of stuff happened that was never fully explained to me. Either that, or the laws changed sometime in the last 10 years.
Over the years my family in the USA would talk about my citizenship from time to time when I went to visit them, and told me about all the cool stuff I was eligible for. Free passage between both countries, a US passport that I could get, the ability to live and work in both countries, and so on. My aunt, who worked for the IRS, actually went and set me up with... some "things" that automod does not like me saying, but I am apparently the beneficiary for some "things". You can likely guess what they are. I don't think it's worth too much, but they exist and my aunt pulled them up on the computer when I was a kid and showed me that they would be mine one day. I don't think I'm legally responsible for them right now. But to make a long story short, my family also told me that I would not have to pay taxes on anything unless/until I "claimed" the benefits of my citizenship by doing something "active". Like moving or working in the US, voting, or claiming my "things" from my aunt. And my aunt worked for the IRS, so this seemed like solid info. But this was over 10 years ago.
Anyway, after many years and getting a Canadian passport - but not being able to claim dual citizenship because my mom and I didn't have the papers - my dad gave me this stack of photocopies. I think I was about 18. The front page was a document showing that I'm a US citizen born abroad, and it was dated to when I was a newborn. Then, a bunch of pages of legal-ese looking papers followed, that I stupidly ignored. I tucked them away in my room. My SSN was on the back page and I just found it yesterday.
Situation:
So flash forward to this week, I am 24 years old. Due to current events in the financial world, I decided that I wanted to set aside a small, fixed budget and open an account related to these events (which automod does not like me mentioning.) However, when I go to sign up, I see a warning asking me if I have any claims to US citizenship in any way, or any possible chance I could be within "US Tax Residency". This sends me down a rabbit hole. I decided to pull out my photocopies from my dad, since this account said that I was legally obligated to disclose my US SSN if I had one. Sure enough, I found a photocopy of my SSN on the back page of this stack, and it's definitely mine.
I decided to go research why this Canadian account is asking me to claim a US SSN to open a Canadian account... I thought that since I've never lived or worked in the US, I didn't have to do anything with it. After all, my aunt who worked for the IRS told me as a child that I was fine unless if I decided to move or work in the US and basically "activate" it. So I vaguely knew already that I had a SSN, but it never crossed my mind that often because I thought I hadn't "activated" it yet by "using" my US citizenship.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I think I might be in trouble. I've been faithfully filing my taxes yearly to the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) ever since I turned 18, with no problems at all. But I've never filed anything with the IRS.
I've never done anything to "use" my citizenship like vote, open a US account, buy major property (unless if those "things" my aunt got me used this SSN without me knowing), or received any benefits like social supports. Also, here in Canada, I wouldn't call myself wealthy. I have an emergency fund and enough money to comfortably pay the bills and my student loan. Most of my money goes into savings. But I'm very frugal, live with family, and use public transport. I'm just a few months away from paying off my student loan. I work almost full time (was full time pre-COVID) in food service, and earn a few dollars above minimum wage. Other than my chequing and savings accounts, the only "special" things I have are my student loan... and a credit card that I faithfully pay off every month. When I do my tax returns, I always got refunds, and have never owed taxes that I had to pay. We'll see about this year because I'm out of school right now and working.
So... this is where I'm at right now. I've never filed a thing with the IRS, since I've never lived or worked in the US in my entire conscious life. But I think I might be in trouble now, because I'm reading that the USA may tax me on my Canadian earnings even though I've never lived or work in the US. So... both countries taking tax off everything I do. My US family always told me I didn't have to file unless I "used" my citizenship, but now I'm not so sure. Tonight I'm going to reach out to my dad and my aunt and see if they know anything. I need to ask my dad if he has the original documents (because the ones I have are bad photocopies and some stuff is cut off), and I need to ask my aunt who worked for the IRS if she knows what I'm supposed to do. That, and the "things". So... my question is on what I'm supposed to do now. Am I in a lot of trouble or do I just need to file what I missed? Should I brace for fines? I'm reaching out to family but I'm really lost on what my next steps are. If any. However, I do want to get this sorted out, one way or another.
TL;DR: I'm a Canadian/US dual citizen, who lives and works in Canada only. My dad registered me for a SSN when I was born, as an American citizen born "abroad", but I only lived in the US for a few months as a baby. I have full dual citizenship to both countries and have not revoked either one. I'm 24 now, and have never filed US taxes with the IRS, because I thought I only had to file Canadian taxes. Am I in trouble? What now?
Submitted January 29, 2021 at 07:07PM by TwentyfootAngels https://ift.tt/39tJW4s
