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gsherwin

Nov 19, 2009, 9:25 AM

Post #1 of 12 (5662 views)

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W-2's and taxes

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Although I will complete my US taxes this year in the USA, next year, I will need to file my Federal Taxes from Guadalajara. I plan to file electronically using Turbo Tax. My question is how do I get my W-2’s? I plan to have a P.O. Box in GDL. Will my past employer (the State of California) and my 403b interest concerns mail my W-2’s to Mexico? How do you guys handle this? Thanks in advance.

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Sea usted mismo, los demás ya está tomada.
Oscar Wilde

morgaine7

Nov 19, 2009, 9:55 AM

Post #2 of 12 (5647 views)

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Re: [gsherwin] W-2's and taxes

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My former employer e-mailed my W2 forms to me as a PDF.
Please check to make sure you can file online. I tried once, and it told me I had to be a US resident.

Kate

prmjcm

Nov 19, 2009, 10:00 AM

Post #3 of 12 (5643 views)

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Re: [gsherwin] W-2's and taxes

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I have mine faxed to me from the people at my us mailing address, than use turbo tax works very well for me.

Rolly

Nov 19, 2009, 10:22 AM

Post #4 of 12 (5634 views)

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Re: [gsherwin] W-2's and taxes

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When filing online, you don't need to have the W-2s or 1099s in hand; you just need to know what's on them. I have my tax documents sent to me at a friend's address in the USA, and he calls me with the information.

Rolly Pirate

jerezano

Nov 19, 2009, 10:54 AM

Post #5 of 12 (5618 views)

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Re: [Rolly] W-2's and taxes

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Hello all,

I have used TurboTax now since my income tax return of 1996. That first year I was not allowed to file from México. I had to print out the return and mail it to my Texas IRS office. The following year, TurboTax made changes which allowed me to file on line.

All the necessary documents for determining income must be delivered by mail to your USA mailing address by the end of February. Whether they can be mailed directly to you in Mexico depends upon the policy of the issuer. Some can, some can't.

Rolly's solution is ideal. His friends read his mail and relay the information to him. I don't have that option. I must return to Texas and pick up my mail after February ends. This applies to everything except from Social Security and my rental agency where I receive that information by Mexican post. In the rare instances where that information does not arrive in time, I have been able to reconstruct both the rental information and the Social Security information from monthly records. Also, now that most financial organizations are on-line, I have been able from time-to-time to verify or acquire additional information.

Before 1996 filing my income tax return was a real problem. One year my tax return did not reach the Texas IRS office for some 4 weeks after I had mailed it. Of course I had sent it Certified mail with a return receipt so there was no real problem. But certified mail here in Mexico was at that time delivered hand-to-hand with each person signing for the document. Whether that is still true or not I don't know. But it made for a real slow delivery.

I can really recommend TurboTax. While still at work in the USA I worked part-time for H&R Block as a tax consultant. TurboTax does exactly the same things we used to do at H&R Block. During the period 1996 to present I have been audited only once, and that by mail. I had inadvertently forgotten a miscellaneous income of a couple hundred dollars. Obvious error. Payment required and payment made.

Happy landings, if happy landings are available at income tax return time.

jerezano.

jerezano

Nov 19, 2009, 11:25 AM

Post #6 of 12 (5612 views)

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Re: [morgaine7] W-2's and taxes

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Hello morgaine7,

Kate, you said:>>>Please check to make sure you can file online. I tried once, and it told me I had to be a US resident.<<<<

So far as the USA is concerned the IRS considers your domicile (residence) as the last place you filed your income tax return, unless you notify them officially that you have changed residence. If you have never notified the IRS officially of a change of residence, you may continue to use the Texas IRS center, the California IRS center, or wherever you last filed. If you have officially notified the IRS of a change of residence (moving out of the country) then you need to file a non-resident return at the Baltimore? (I think it is Baltimore) IRS center.

I have been filing the standard 1040 at my Texas IRS center since 1980 when we established residence in Harlingen, TX.. I came to Mexico in 1989. I continued filing the standard 1040 at the Texas IRS center. I began using TurboTax in 1996 and was not able to file on line that first year finding it necessary to print the return and file it at the Texas IRS center through the Mexican Postal system. In 1997 TurboTax changed and allowed me to file on-line from Mexico. I have been using it ever since. Of course on the 1040 somewhere I think (I will have to look again this year) that you state you are a resident of the USA. For income tax purposes I am. I have no problem making that statement since the mere act of having to file an income tax return to my mind makes me a resident. Convoluted thinking? Perhaps. Should someone challenge me, what are the consequences? Fraud? Thirty years in prison for misstatement of fact? So long as my taxes are paid I think the IRS could care less.

If you have been filing at the Baltimore? IRS center as a non-resident of the USA and filing a non-resident return, then there is no hope for you. But if you have been filing the standard 1040 with your former IRS center, then you should have no problem whatsoever in filing on line. Try again this year. Good luck. Maybe we will meet in prison!

jerezano.

morgaine7

Nov 19, 2009, 12:46 PM

Post #7 of 12 (5594 views)

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Re: [jerezano] W-2's and taxes

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Hola Jerezano,

Thank you for all the info. My situation is totally different. I'd been living and working outside the US since 1982 and moved to Mexico from Egypt in 2007 when I retired. My returns are filed at an Austin, TX address that they specify for overseas filers. It used to be in Philadelphia, PA. So I guess there's no hope for me. ;-)

My inability to use e-file had to do with not being in the US, so I thought I should warn the original poster to check on that. Things could have changed since I tried.

I'd enjoy meeting you, but preferably not in prison!

Kate

gsherwin

Nov 19, 2009, 4:27 PM

Post #8 of 12 (5569 views)

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Re: [morgaine7] W-2's and taxes

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As the “original poster”, it is always edifying to watch where the conversation travels. I do plan to declare myself a non-resident of the USA because while I understand the need to pay the IRS, I have no intention of supporting California – particularly if I don’t reside there.
Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
Sea usted mismo, los demás ya está tomada.
Oscar Wilde

Papirex

Nov 19, 2009, 5:21 PM

Post #9 of 12 (5560 views)

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Re: [gsherwin] W-2's and taxes

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As others have said, you don't need to send any original documents when you file your taxes electronically. If you can't arrange to have them sent to you in México, ask a trusted friend or family member if they will re-mail them to you, or scan and email them, or simply tell you via telephone all of the information on them. After the first year and you are retired, you will not receive any W2 forms.

After retirement, you will begin to receive 1099 forms from your pension plan(s) that may not be the complete number for that form, but I am not going to go upstairs and dig mine out right now. Turbo Tax will ask you for the payees name and tax number, write them down or keep a record of them. If you have defined benefit pensions as I do with no cost of living increases every year, you may copy all of the info from your 1099 forms every year.

When you are old enough to begin receiving Social Security benefits, the amounts per year usually change because of cost of living increases most years.

The first year that you use Turbo Tax it will ask you to create a user name and password. Do it, and keep them in a secure place because in subsequent years when you enter them, Turbo Tax will remember your last years return and ask you things like, are you still receiving a pension from X? It will then ask you to fill in the payee and their tax number and the amount you received again.

If applicable, it will then ask you if you are still receiving a pension from Y? And Z? When you are eligible the program will ask about any Social Security benefits received. It will also ask about any dividend or large interest payments received in the previous tax year if you listed any on your previous return. You may add or delete payees in any year.

Basically, the only new information you will need every year will usually be any change in income from each payee or any new payee if you receive any irregular dividends, I have had to do that.

It is pretty simple really, but if it is the first time you have used Turbo Tax, it will probably be a good idea to begin the filing process as early as possible so you may learn the program which is easy. You may stop at any time, and pick up where you left off at any time. Since my own income in retirement is usually just from four pensions, it usually only takes me about 15 minutes to file my annual income tax each year.

I have tried other electronic tax filing programs in past years, they were also very accurate, but Turbo Tax has been the easiest and most user friendly for me. You may want to try one of the others.

Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

Rolly

Nov 19, 2009, 6:58 PM

Post #10 of 12 (5545 views)

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Re: [Papirex] W-2's and taxes

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I agree. Turbo Tax rules!

Rolly Pirate

Papirex

Nov 19, 2009, 7:36 PM

Post #11 of 12 (5526 views)

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Re: [Rolly] W-2's and taxes

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I forgot to add that years ago, I used to buy the Turbo Tax program on a CD every year. When we first moved to México I used to have one of my daughters send a Turbo Tax disk to me down here. When Turbo Tax first offered their online version, my credit inion in Alaska put a link to it on their home page at tax time.

I have been using the online version ever since then. It is super fast and simple and you don't need to wait for any updates to download, they are already in the online version.

Rolly, you are a smart guy. Don't tell my dogs though. They think I believe they are the smartest guys I know.

Rex
"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved" - Victor Hugo

mcm

Nov 20, 2009, 4:47 PM

Post #12 of 12 (5443 views)

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Re: [gsherwin] W-2's and taxes

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In addition to Turbo Tax, folks with income under a certain amount can file electronically for no charge, using one of several services listed on the IRS web page. The income limits, as I recall, vary from 30-50K annually.
The first year that you use a service, you may need to send a form to the IRS with your signature, but not in subsequent years.
Like Turbo Tax, the service that I used keeps information for use the following year.
It's been about 13 years since I used Turbo Tax, but the free service I used the last couple of years had a similar interface.