When I get my green card in the first year, how should I file tax returns?

For the green card test, the second is the actual residence test.

1. green card test: If you fail to meet the actual residence test in the year when you get the green card, you have two choices. One option is to be a taxpayer from the first day you obtain legal resident status. Of course, if you get a green card that year, you can also choose to become a tax resident to file tax returns all the year round.

2. Actual residence test: If you don't get a green card, you will become a permanent resident. Then the way to test whether you are a tax resident is to calculate the number of days you stay in the United States. As long as the following two conditions are met at the same time, they are tax residents:

1) You stayed in the United States for at least 3 1 day;

2) Your last three years (including that year) in the United States exceeded 183 days according to the following algorithm:

I every day of the year, plus

Two. The number of days in the previous year multiplied by one third, plus

Three. Multiply the number of days in the previous two years by one sixth.

3. Give two examples. Mr. Wang, without a green card, lived in the United States for 65,438+020 days in 2065, 438+07 days in 2065, 60 days in 2065, 438+06 days (multiplied by one third equals 20 days), 65,438+080 days in 2065 and 438+05 days (multiplied by six points) When filing tax returns, he needs to use the non-resident tax form of 1040NR.

What should Mr. Wang do if he gets a green card on 20 17? Mr. Wang got a green card in September and became a permanent resident of the United States. In the last example, according to the actual residence test, Mr. Wang is a non-resident, but since he got a green card on 20 17, he can choose two ways to file tax returns:

1) He can choose dual identity and file tax returns with dual identity. Before becoming a green card resident in September, it is counted as a non-resident. After becoming a green card resident in September, it is taxed according to the tax residents. This operation is very complicated and needs professional accountants to help you deal with it.

2) Since Mr. Wang has got the green card, he can also choose to file tax returns for tax residents all the year round. In this case, the processing is relatively simple. But if Mr. Wang has a lot of assets in China, he also needs a professional accountant to make a good plan. After all, once you get a green card, you have to bear the obligation to declare the global income of the United States.

Therefore, it is indeed a good thing to get a green card and be free to enter and leave the United States, but as long as you think about the global tax system in the United States, you will have a headache. It's not easy to get a green card, and it's not easy to become a green card flyer with legal tax returns.