tax implications of marrying a US citizen

I am engaged to be married to a US citizen next year. We will married in the US and will live there for most of the year. I have been self employed in Ireland and imagine there are a battery of questions I need to ask (and get answered) about my tax and legal status and that of my husband to be in both countries. Some of my questions concern the tax impact on any income I earn in Ireland if I live in the US, can I still insure my car in Ireland (I plan to keep it); can I maintain private health insurance for myself and my husband to be; etc.

Can anyone help me with identifying the sorts of questions I need to be thinking about? and secondly - who should I talk to in terms of getting answers - lawyers, tax accountants etc?

Thanks in advance

Regarding the filing of tax returns & implications, you could begin by browsing through the IRS website http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc851.html & here http://www.revenue.ie/en/personal/circumstances/moving/tax-residence.html especially the section regarding Double Taxation Agreements.

Some of the ex-pat forums – which are mainly used by British ex-pats but a lot if not all of the advice & information you would pick up there would also apply to an Irish ex-pat, can also be very useful.

Have a look here: [broken link removed] & you could search through here for threads on tax issues: http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=57

Just as a side issue, I don’t know what sort of immigration arrangements you have made regarding your status when entering the US before you actually marry, but just be aware that if USCIS become aware at your port of entry that you intend to marry a US citizen, & if you are not entering on a Fiancé(e) Visa (K1 Visa) then you could be refused entry on the grounds that you are entering for a different purpose than stated on your present visa (presumably a holiday visa or a non-immigrant temporary work visa).

What’s meant to happen is that your boyfriend is meant to file a Petition for Alien I129F with a USCIS office in the US, & after this has been approved you are meant to complete the application process here in the US Embassy.

In reality many people skip/bypass this process & just file in the US for Adjustment of Status & a Petition for Alien Spouse after they get married in the US. I just wanted to highlight the above regarding entering the US. Some people use an immigration lawyer to file for Adjustment of Status after getting married, but in reality you can download a package of forms to file concurrently & providing that you submit the correct ones there is no need to go to the added expense, providing that your application is relatively straightforward. A good site/forum for help on this is http://immihelp.com/

The main issue in the short-term is that you will remain Irish tax resident.
Residence is defined as
183 days in a tax year

or 240 days between a tax year and teh previous tax year


I assume you were Irish resident in the three previous years.
This means that you will be "ordinarily resident" in Ireland for the next three tax years.

If you are ordinarily resident but not resident you are taxed on

worldwide income excluding

trade profession or employment exercised 100% outside Ireland
and
other income <= 3,810. If this exceeds €3,810 alll of it is Irish taxable.

Therefore you would still need accounts and returns in Ireland if you maintained the income here.

You would also need to monitor your days here to avoid triggering Irish residence again.

If you are also US resident you would get credit for Irish tax paid.

The terms of the Ireland/US Double tax treaty have tie-breaker clauses where someone is resident in both countries.

Before moving

I dont know enough about US tax but if they have what is called the remittance basis of tax for non-domiciled individuals, which you are still Irish domiciled it might be worth seeking advice on arranging your affairs before leaving.

For example if someone were coming to Ireland I would tell them to transfer funds from a current account to a deposit account to avoid tax on remitting it here.

I quote this to illustrate the type of thing where US advice might be useful if they have equivalents. Your fiance could dicuss with a US accountant/tax adviser.

Best of luck for the future

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