I think that's only for people claiming US residence also. True American expats living abroad have a much higher amount.

I did some looking, and it seems that if your tax home is outside the US, the threshold is $200,000, with a few caveats:

- For shared financial assets, there seems to be disagreement as to whether the 200,000 is the total value of that asset, or just your part of it. (This may include mortgages, pension funds and stakes in companies).

- This is just the threshold for self reporting. Banks are required to send your file at a much lower threshold.

Anyway, I think the takeaway is still that it's not safe to assume you can simply ignore all of this stuff, even if you're not rich. Most of the people reading this thread will end up owing nothing at all anyway.

one possible prob of not filing. if irs decide they think you owe tax and estimate. you could end up paying taxes you dont nee d to.

I have two questions that I think someone on this forum already knows and can graciously answer. They are:
1.) I've read the IIT (individual income tax) in China should be paid and filled by the employer—not employee—especially if earning below 120,000RMB per year. Is this accurate? Is there anything to legally file for people whose income fits this?

2.) I haven't filed for a few years in the US as I don't make enough to surpass the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion limit. I am planning to get those years covered, and send in those returns. Anyone have any advice on how best to do this?

I've heard that you should wait between filing and not send all in one submission. (ie. send one, wait a month or two, send another, so on).

Any practical info is much appreciated!

@hasenman:
1.) In China, for foreigners, your employer reports your income, calculates tax and remits it each month. If your income is less than 120,000RMB there is nothing for you to do.

2.) Go to irs.gov to get forms, instructions and publications:

You will need these forms: f1040, f2555. The instructions are i1040, i2555

You should also get Pub 17 for each year. Pub54 is also useful.

Prior year stuff is here: find.irs.gov/search?affiliate=irs-prior-fp You do need to use the right form for each year.

Your income: Calculate your income in RMB as best you can. You need to convert to USD. (I would use an 'average' exchange rate. 1/1 rate + 12/31 divided by 2). As long as you are not near the limit for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion you should not have a problem.

Foreign Earned Income Exclusion for recent years: ($92,900 for 2011, $95,100 for 2012, $97,600 for 2013, $99,200 for 2014 and $100,800 for 2015)

Attach a simple statement as to why you do not have W-2 forms. I always stated how I calculated the exchange rate.

If you had $10,000 or more total in foreign bank accounts, at any time during a year, you need to file FBAR, f8938, i8938

When you mail your returns, I suggest you use a separate envelope for each year mailed separately. If you use the IRS forms, PDF forms you can fill with Acrobat Reader, they are all scanned anyway.

@Geezer, Awesome, thanks for the info! Will get on it!

As of January 1, 2021, Kunming landlords are required to pay 10% taxes for their apartment rents collected from their lessee. Not sure how Kunming IRS will enforce this.

Thanks for the info l4dybug. Would you have a source for that information as well by any chance? We'd be interested to read that.

Is this in addition to regular income tax that they are supposed to pay? Based on my experience many have wanted to avoid that, and have provided fapiao for the rent payments only against extra fee.

Here's a source, though it's just a screenshot of the Yunnan Tax Bureau announcement from yesterday: xw.qq.com/cmsid/20210105A0FI4600

It looks like there's now a 10% tax on rental income (there's something about 20% for 非住房, but I'm not sure what their exact definition of that is: second home? non-residential?).

It says you can deduct any maintenance fees you can prove with a Fapiao.

Not sure how this will stack up with other income sources for income tax. It's not specifically addressed in the announcement.

I've lived in other cities where the tax was 5%. Landlords were hesitant to rent to foreigners, because tax guys would hang out at the police station when they came to register. Landlords would try to avoid getting the income on the books in the first place, and if they couldn't they tended to insist the renter pay the tax in full, or split it down the middle.

As to how this affects foreign renters, it's too soon to tell. It depends on how and to what extent it gets enforced. Will the renting agents have to report every rental? Will the police stations where foreigners have to register forward contract details to the tax man? Who knows.