Commuter GC MFJ filer, reporting threshold for the 8938

jhuang1213 · Post by **jhuang1213** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:50 pm

I am commuter GC holder (working in US and living in Canada) - wife is not GC holder, I intend to file 1040 MFJ status.

1. By reading instruction of 8939, I think I am falling into the categary of "Taxpayers living abroad" and meeting "Presence abroad" test. Is my understanding correct? if So, our 8938 reporting threshold would be $400000, correct?

2. If I decided to file 1040NR based tax-treaty clause, is the reporting threshold still $400000 as "Taxpayers living abroad"

I am pretty confused with my situation.

Thanks
Jin

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:36 pm

1.Yes, you are by any definition, living abroad.
2. Yes. But remember that filing 1040NR if you have GC or are US citizen, still requires all other filings (8891, 3520, FBAR, PFIC etc). Only the 1040 aspect is covered by your treaty election. So, 1040NR will not save you much headaches.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:36 pm

Good questions by the way.

jhuang1213 · Post by **jhuang1213** » Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:40 pm

Thanks, Nelsona!