⌛ Question for US Citizens or Dual Citizens Living in the Phils

I lived and worked outside of the States for many years and didn’t expect much from Social Security. In our house as a kid it was a given that Social Security along with all the other socialist, communist programs created during the Roosevelt Administration were doomed to failure, would bankrupt the country, and bring down the God ordained capitalist system. Imagine my surprise when at 62 I started to receive about $800 a month, which goes up a few dollars each year.

Hang in there the politicians, despite all there efforts haven’t managed to screw the pooch yet.

Kenny

 

As long as you maintain US citizenship you must file a tax return, even if you don't owe tax.
Social Security may or may not continue. As an expat, it's best not to depend on it. Even if it does continue the payments will likely be reduced and the qualifying age for receiving payment will likely go up.
2008 was the first year the system paid out more than it collects. With the recession and resulting unemployment the collections for 2009 and 2010 will be lower yet.
Should some legislation be passed that continues the system we are still looking at a dollar that will be worth much less in the future than it is now. It's best to plan accordingly.

 

Another happy commie!

There you go, you sound like an extremely happy socialist communist now. I dont suppose you are refusing the payments comrad! Let me guess, you are entitled to them, oui?

 

Haven't filed taxes in years

An I don't plan too. I really can't see them chasing me down to file taxes. which I wouldn't have anything to pay anyway..

 

They won't chase you down. Just wait for you...Had an American workmate in Saudi who never filed for over a decade. He went back to visit relatives. Grabbed him at the airport. Detained briefly until he promised to get his tax affairs in order. As I recall he didn't have to pay any tax...but he did pay some fines. I understand there is a provision to remove the overseas tax exclusion (that $90k I mentioned earlier) for non-filers....but I personally haven't heard of it happening to anyone. That would ruin most overseas workers day.....

 

Wrong! Read Garbonzo's post from yesterday. It seems he looked it up after I posted that not everyone must file. I think he got it directly from the IRS website.

Larry

 

Oui, oui. I sure am entitled. I worked the years in the States before going overseas and I paid into the system. My point was that the prophets of doom are not new. For as long as I can remember they have been predicting the demise of Social Security.

 

I have to be 66 years and 6 months

Before I can even think about getting anything from them.. I know time flies but somehow I'm sure they would find a way to screw me anyway. I worked for 14 years for a company and the year before I was vested they closed my plant. Somehow I don't have much faith in other people when it comes to my old age..:(

 

I agree. Yes, there has been doomsayers forever about SS, but never before have the numbers looked the way they do for the next 30 years. SS is really nothing but a government sponsored ponzi scheme, use money from the new investors to pay the old. Sooner or later all ponzi schemes go bust. (Anyone heard the name Madoff? Or how about Legacy?)

Anyone with some basic math skills should be able to look at the number of people paying in now per person receiving, and weigh that against the projected number of people paying per person receiving in 20 years, to deduct that this is simply not going to work. However, it seems that many people have their head in the sand and/or are simply not bright enough to do those numbers for themselves. Our government is counting on them!

Larry

 

Thanks for the correction Larry. It's true, you are not absolutely required to file a 1040 form every year. However, you should make sure you understand the requirement rules which gets more difficult to determine every year. The annual rule changes are maddening.

Note the word "generally" in the paragraph below from the IRS:

So, what is income?

On the subject of self-employment is this statement from TaxMeLess.Com

Then there's taxes on bank accounts which don't necessarily require you filing a 1040 form but do require you to file a TDF 90-22.1 form. This is what seabee was asking about in the OP.

There are many, many more rules encompassing residency status, having a non-resident alien spouse, your "tax home" vs your "abode", etc..

Source is http://www.irs.gov/publications/p54/ch04.html#en_US_publink100047413 unless otherwise noted.