Who is an accidental US citizen/resident for tax purposes?

Anybody born on U.S. soil or to one American parent anywhere in the world is automatically a U.S. citizen.

The term may also sometimes be applied to people who definitely are not U.S. citizens but have some other sort of connection with the country, for example green card holders who moved back to their country of origin and let their green cards expire without formally cancelling their U.S. immigration status, or non-U.S. citizens married to Americans abroad.

Nonimmigrant Visas

When a nonimmigrant visa holder spends at least 183 days of the current year within the United States, they become tax residents and will probably have to report income to the IRS.

If a person stays within the United States for a total of at least 183 “weighted” days during the prior three years, then that person is also a tax resident, unless he/she stayed less than 30 days in the current year.

Weighted system:

Current Year Previous year Year before previous year
1 day= 1 day 1 day= 1/3 of a day 1 day= 1/6 of a day

Exceptions may be students, certain governmental employees and other professionals.

Accidental US Citizens must file and pay taxes no matter where they live or work.

If you have any questions regarding accounting, domestic taxation, international taxation, IRS representation, U.S. tax implications of Real Estate transactions or financial statements, please give us a call at 305-274-5811.