British Expatriate Network

Hello all,

I've read some very good advice on these boards and hope I can be pointed in the right direction with this question. My position at the moment is I am on a F1 visa in cali and will be getting married to my American fiance (sp?) in a few weeks. Obviously as I am still a resident of the UK, I have a bank account there and one in the US. When I get my GC and have to file tax returns do I need to notify the IRS of the UK accounts? and if so surely you don't have to pay US tax on it?

Also, if I decide to move my money over from the UK bank to the US bank do I need to show where the money came from as it will be a substantial amount.

cheers for any help

ps are there any GC holders/new citizens that have still kept their UK accounts open anyway??

Technically, yes, you should notify and should pay tax on income from it. When we told our accountant about our British bank account he told us to ignore it as the IRS cannot interrogate British banks. Many of us keep accounts over there, that's pretty normal. Transferring huge amounts of money can be dodgy, were you thinking in the 100s of thousands?

I've been told in the past that the IRS is unconcerned with accounts that have transactions or balances less than $10,000 in any year.

Otherwise, yes you are supposed to declare it.

Thanks for the replies. It wont be hundreds, but will be tens of thousands that I am putting down on a house.