28 July 2010

Yay, America!


Annoyingly, and unlike any other country I know of, the IRS requires me to file a US tax return every year declaring my foreign income. I'm currently below the (reasonably generous) exclusion threshold which means I don't have to pay any US tax on said income. I will probably eventually cross that line, however, meaning I'll have to go through the tedious process of calculating my US tax burden and then claiming deductions from that based on my UK taxes. For once it's convenient that British taxes are heavy!

That future irritation has briefly faded from my mind however, because I received a check today, out of the blue, from the US Treasury, for $248.62. Apparently I'm entitled to the stimulus tax credit (Making Work Pay) even though I paid $0 in US taxes last year. In honor of the goal of the stimulus, I hereby promise to spend it on something frivolous in the good old US of A.