American Citizens Services
Taxes in the United States
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office serving Hong Kong and Macau is located in Austin, and provides U.S. Federal tax assistance to Americans in Hong Kong and Macau.
The IRS Home Page, www.irs.gov, has a lot of information available to answer many questions. Go to 'Individuals' and then 'Overseas Taxpayers' you will find a section of FAQ, which will take you to IRS Publication 54. Many questions of overseas taxpayers can be answered from that source.
For immediate assistance from a taxpayer specialist, you can call, fax or email the International Customer Service Site located in Philadelphia. The Service Site is open Monday through Friday, for 20 hours each day, from 6:00 AM to 2:00 AM, Eastern Time. The customer service representatives there can be contacted as follows:
Tel: 1- 215- 516- 2000
Fax: 1- 215- 516- 2555
E-mail inquiries: http://www.irs.gov/help/page/0,,id=133197,00.html.
Inquiries regarding taxpayer identification numbers should be made at
Tel: 1- 215 -516-4846
Fax: 1- 215- 516-3271
All inquiries must be in the English language.
Please choose a topic:
Contact the IRS
Obtain Forms
Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs)
Social Security Numbers for American Citizen Children
Reporting Rates of Exchange
List of Tax Preparers in Hong Kong
Tax Guidance for Expats
Copies/Transcripts of Previous Tax Returns
Contacting the IRS
You must contact the IRS in Austin. There is unfortunately no one at the Consulate who can answer tax-related questions.
Phone
215-516-2000 (M-F, 6am-2am EST)
FAX
215-516-3256
FAX for Transcripts of Returns
215-516-2931/1311/1322
Mail
IRS Austin Service Center, Austin, TX 73301-0215
OnLine
www.irs.gov
EMail
Via www.irs.gov/help/page/
IRS Forms
Tax forms are available by mail from the IRS on-line.
Most forms are also available on CD-ROM as "Publication 1796". You can order a copy of this CD on-line.
Neither the IRS nor the Consulate can advise you or provide forms for U.S. state or local taxes. Most U.S. state tax forms can be downloaded from www.taxadmin.org/fta/forms.ssi.
Most Commonly Requested 2006 IRS Tax Forms
| Form TDF 90.22.1 | Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts |
| Form W-4 | Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate |
| Form W-9 | Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification |
| Form W-7 | Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number |
| Form 1040 | U.S. Individual Income Tax Return |
| Inst 1040 | Instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return and Schedules A, B, C, D, E, F, J, and |
| Form 1040 A | U.S. Individual Income Tax Return |
| Inst 1040 A | Instructions for Form 1040-A, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return |
| Form 1040 EZ | Income Tax Return for Single Filers and Joint Filers With No Dependents |
| Inst 1040 EZ | Instructions for Form 1040-EZ, Income Tax Return for Single Filers and Joint Filers With No Dependen |
| Form 1040 NR | U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return |
| Inst 1040 NR | Instructions for Form 1040 NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return |
| Form 1116 | Foreign Tax Credit |
| Inst 1116 | Instructions for Form 1116, Foreign Tax Credit |
| Form 2350 | Application for Extension of Time to File U.S. Income tax Return |
| Form 2441 | Child and Dependent Care Expenses |
| Inst 2441 | Instructions for Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses |
| Form 2555 | Foreign Earned Income |
| Inst 2555 | Instructions for Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income |
| Form 2555 EZ | Foreign Earned Income Exclusion |
| Inst 2555 EZ | Instructions for Form 2555-EZ, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion |
| Form 2688 | Application for Additional Extention of Time to File U.S. Individual Tax Return |
| Form 3903 | Moving Expenses |
| Form 4506-T | Request for Transcript of Tax Return |
| Form 4852 | Substitute for W-2, Wage and Tax Statement |
| Form 4868 | Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return |
| Form 8822 | Change of Address |
| Pub 970 | Tax Benefits for Education |
| Pub 1 | Your Rights as a Taxpayer |
| Pub 54 | Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad |
| Pub 513 | Tax Information for Visitors to the United States |
| Pub 514 | Foreign Tax Credit for Individuals |
| Pub 515 | Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Corporations |
| Pub 516 | U.S. Government Civilian Employees Stationed Abroad |
| Pub 521 | Moving Expenses |
| Pub 535 | Business Expenses |
| Pub 593 | Tax Highlights for U.S. Citizens and Residents Going Abroad |
| Pub 915 | Social Security Benefits and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits |
Treasury Reporting Rates Of Exchange - Annual Average Rates
IRS does not post an exchange rate schedule on its web site. Instead, you may use the US Treasury rate from Financial Management Service (FMS).
Other options: www.oanda.com provides exchange rates. People using that site should obtain the average exchange rate using the 'interbank rate' for the period required, for example, January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004. You input that information and the site automatically gives you the average rate for that period for any currency in the world.
If you go to www.newyorkfed.org, you can download the daily rates into an Excel spreadsheet and have the spreadsheet compute the average rate.
Any of these rates could be used and accepted. If the IRS were to examine the return and ask how the exchange rate were computed, the individual would need to be able to show how the rate they used was computed. Since any of these are obtained from legitimate sites, they would be accepted.>
Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs)
Social Security Numbers are only available to American Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (LPRs, or "Green Card" holders). They are not issued to spouses of American Citizens who are not LPRs or foreign students going to the U.S. for college.
Instead, the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) was created for use as a tax reporting number for those taxpayers who do not qualify for Social Security Numbers. ITINs are for tax purposes only. The numbers are not valid as personal identification, and do not imply or in any way provide legal status in the U.S. or entitle holders to work in the U.S.
How to Apply for an ITIN
Complete IRS form W-7, available at www.irs.gov, or at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf. All new ITIN applicants should use the December 2003 revision of Form W-7.
Obtain a certified copy of your passport at the Consulate as a notarial service. The cost is US$30. Please see notarial.htm for details.
Check the instructions with form W-7 for additional filing requirements, such as the need to include original, completed tax returns. Each applicant will have to show a federal tax purpose for seeking an ITIN, either by attaching a federal tax return to Form W-7 or providing documents that support an exception to the requirement to file a return. Exceptions are listed in the Form W-7 instructions.
Mail the completed form, certified copy of your passport and other documents to:
IRS, Philadelphia Service Center
ITIN Unit
PO Box 447
Bensalem, PA 19020
Tel. 215-516-4846/800-829-1040
Processing time for an ITIN is four to six weeks.
If you have had a child born abroad, registering him/her and obtaining a first passport also gets your child a Social Security Number. More information and forms are here.
If you otherwise have an American Citizen dependent without a Social Security Number, or have questions about obtaining a Social Security Number, please follow this link.
IRS, Treasury Release Guidance on Expatriation Reporting Requirements
IR-2005-49, April 22, 2005
WASHINGTON — Today Treasury and the IRS announced the release of Notice 2005-36 and revised Form 8854, Initial and Annual Expatriation Information Statement. The notice and the revised form and its instructions address the significant changes made by the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 (AJCA) to the tax and information reporting rules affecting individuals who lose their U.S. citizenship or long-term resident status after June 3, 2004.
In addition to imposing new information reporting requirements on former citizens and long-term residents, AJCA provides that former citizens and long-term residents will continue to be taxed as U.S. citizens or residents until they (1) notify the Department of State of loss of citizenship or the Department of Homeland Security of termination of permanent resident status and (2) file an initial expatriation information statement with the IRS.
Form 8854, Initial and Annual Expatriation Information Statement, has been revised to permit individuals to meet the new notification and information reporting requirements imposed by AJCA. In particular, Form 8854 has been expanded so that it functions as both the initial and the annual expatriation information statements required by AJCA. Revised Form 8854 and its instructions also address how individuals should certify (in accordance with the new law) that they have met their federal tax obligations for the five preceding taxable years and what constitutes notification to the Department of State or the Department of Homeland Security.
Notice 2005-36 provides special rules for individuals who file the revised Form 8854 by June 15, 2005. Treasury and the IRS recognize that until the revised Form 8854 was released, individuals who lost U.S. citizenship or terminated long-term resident status after June 3, 2004 did not know how to meet the new notification and information reporting requirements imposed by AJCA. Accordingly, Notice 2005-36 provides that if an individual who loses U.S. citizenship or terminates long-term resident status after June 3, 2004 files the revised Form 8854 by June 15, 2005, the individual will be treated as having met his or her reporting obligations on the date on which the taxpayer provided the requisite notice to the Department of State or the Department of Homeland Security.
Form 8854 and its instructions are available at the agency Web site, IRS.gov, but will no longer be obtainable from U.S. embassies or consulates abroad. Individuals in the United States may contact the IRS toll-free at 1-800-829-1040 for more information (1-800-829-4059 for TTY/TDD). If overseas, individuals may contact the IRS at (215) 516-2000 (English-speaking only and not a toll-free number).
Links:
- Notice 2005-36 (PDF 57K)
- Form 8854, Initial and Annual Expatriation Information Statement (PDF 98K)
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Last modified: March 10, 2008
American Citizens Services
Taxes in the United States
