Paying US Income Taxes

[dotgoner]

Question for those who have done it before. In regards to working overseas, how much Income do we have to report to Uncle Sam? Does the IRS know how much we make outside?

Having never worked as an employee outside of the states, I need some information. My corp to corp contracts I have had to report earnings/etc, but personal income tax is new to me.

Any help would be appreciated, the local CPA is no help on out of country issues.

Danke schon

[hello_there]

Question for those who have done it before. In regards to working overseas, how much Income do we have to report to Uncle Sam? Does the IRS know how much we make outside?

If you are a US citizen/ green card holder, your must report every penny, regardless of source. There is a foreign earned income exclusion for a portion of qualifying income earned overseas (or all income earned overseas if you make less than the maximum amount of the exclusion), but you still must report. The IRS web site actually has a good summary of the legal requirements and procedure.

[dotgoner]

Question is, do they "really" know that we are working outside of the US, and does the IRS know how much we make outside of the states?
Does the HK employer report earnings to the IRS?

Not that I am advocating cheating on taxes, but the whole double dip tax of HK and US kinda pisses me off.

It also pisses me off that I have to subsidize social welfare programs, the poor, the lazy, etc, and those who didnt go to skool to get edumacated...

If you are a US citizen/ green card holder, your must report every penny, regardless of source. There is a foreign earned income exclusion for a portion of qualifying income earned overseas (or all income earned overseas if you make less than the maximum amount of the exclusion), but you still must report. The IRS web site actually has a good summary of the legal requirements and procedure.

[thromsturmond]

And don't forget subsidizing the schools, too!