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As an expat working in a school, my school doesn't have a tax ID

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
April 22, 2023
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TurboTax Deluxe Online

Best answer by pk12_2

@parc596689 , as a US person ( citizen/ GreenCard), you would have to recognize and be taxed on your world income. However, it is the recognition of the income (i.e. reporting thereon) that is needed. Generally it is extremely unlikely that a foreign entity will have a US tax ID. You report your income from such an entity leaving the EIN empty. TurboTax should be able to handle this , as long you tell it that this entity has no US address.

That obviously all general -- if you need more specific help on how to proceed ( report etc. ) , please consider telling me which country ( school that is ), your own immigration status, student / employee status etc. etc.

I will circle back once I hear from you .

P

pk12_2Answer

Employee

@parc596689 , as a US person ( citizen/ GreenCard), you would have to recognize and be taxed on your world income. However, it is the recognition of the income (i.e. reporting thereon) that is needed. Generally it is extremely unlikely that a foreign entity will have a US tax ID. You report your income from such an entity leaving the EIN empty. TurboTax should be able to handle this , as long you tell it that this entity has no US address.

That obviously all general -- if you need more specific help on how to proceed ( report etc. ) , please consider telling me which country ( school that is ), your own immigration status, student / employee status etc. etc.

I will circle back once I hear from you .

P

parc596689Author

I work in China but it is still asking me for the EIN number and when I enter china for the country , it doesn't change anything. do I need to upgrade the turbo? what is fatcha? thank you so much, sincerely!

P

pk12_2

Employee

@parc596689 , thank you for your answer. What I get of your situation is as follows:

(a) You a US person ( citizen/ GreenCard ) is and has been working in China

(b) you are employed by the University and now need to file a return for US tax purposes.

1. As a US person having a foreign bank and /or financial assets , you come under the rules of FBAR ( a foreign bank account with = / > that US$10,000 at anytime in the year ) and FATCA ( this is for financial assets , not just cash account but not real-estate , the threshold for reporting requirement depends on your filing status and whether you are in the USA or abroad). Here is a link that covers this area:

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements

2. As a US person , you also come under the requirement to contribute to Social Security & Medicare ( 15.3% , where in the US, employer & employee share the burden on 50-50 basis, but self-employed there is no sharing obviously). Note in this context, most students / trainees are exempt from participating while in USA, and similar exemption may be for a student/ trainee in a foreign country. This is general info not specific to your case -- need more info.

Also many countries have Totalization agreement with the USA such that the person pays Social Security only to one jurisdiction.

3. You wages from China needs to be entered as foreign income such that it comes under Foreign Earned Income Exclusion or Foreign Tax Credit --- this is to mitigate the double taxation burden. You enter this under personal income, under "Foreign Earned Income & Exclusion" . But for such you do need to have a higher version of TurboTax and preferably windows download -- this allows you to see the forms as they are filled out and everything stays on your machine ( for future use / amend etc. if need be ).

Does this help, help enough or do you need more ?

pk

P

parc596689Author

when I go to the foreign tax section t, they tell me to go back to wages and income to enter my income and then come back to foreign taxes. but in wages, I can't enter income because it wants the tax id number.

P

parc596689Author

because I sold investments, I need a certain schedule and need to upgrade my turbo for 84 usd, still can't enter income, I click on " no w-2" but it won't let me enter anything.

P

pk12_2

Employee

@parc596689 I Sorry for the exasperation you are going through.

Did you say you have upgraded and if so to what ---- I am not familiar with On-line version. However, with your foreign earned income and investment income ( interest / dividend / capital gains etc. ), my preferred level is Home & business ( I think this is thew same as self-employed). You should then report your foreign earned income under foreign earned income exclusion ( not under wages / W-2), which should allow you to exclude the income using the form 2555.

If you are indeed using the on-line version ( home & business / self-employed ) then please let me know and I will ask one my colleagues ( familiar with the product ) to help guide you through --yes ?

by the way how did you file last year --2021 ?

pk

P

parc596689Author

my accountant did it but for my simple profile, its a waste of money to pay someone. it won't let me enter the income and it won't let me go to any form unless I upgrade, I haven't upgraded. I can't get form 116 unless I pay 84usd to upgrade. the version I downloaded from stash doesn't have form 1116 and I just searched form 2555 and there is no link to it.. the help section says, click on the link for form 2555 and it will take you there. every time I go to foreign exclusion or foreign income, it takes me back to the w2 and I get no where. I need another download version.