conversation: User (clearsimpleplain): "When I was 19 I got married and moved to Canada to be with my husband. We were young and dumb and didn't know anything about tax law obviously. We do our taxes with HR Block every year for piece of mind. Figured since I had no American income I had no reason to file American taxes. Oops. \n\nSo now we're trying to get my husband a green card and they need me to have filed with them, and I haven't. I haven't made over 20k in any of the years we've been up here. HR Block says only the last 3 years will be relevant and I won't owe anything because my income was too low, but  they're going to charge me over $400 a year to do those 3 years. Is it possible to do this myself without completely fucking myself over more? What are my options here? \n\nAnd of course, thank you so much for any advice. "
  Self: "So, are you a US citizen?  If so, then you probably did need to file a US tax return during those years you lived in Canada.  As far as what you should file, that is up to you, but I will say that you are required to file for every year that you met the filing requirements (So potentially up to 11 years of returns).  \n\nAs far as your options, you do have a few:\n1.  Pay someone to assist you in filing them.  While not necessarily cheap, between 11 returns and hiring someone with foreign experience, it takes the burden of figuring out what you qualify for (such as the foreign income exclusion).  \n2.  Attempt to do it yourself.  If you choose to do this, I would suggest starting with reading IRS Publication 54.\n\nOne other big thing that you may have to be concerned about is the FBAR and FATCA filings, to report foreign financial assets.  You can see an overview at http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Comparison-of-Form-8938-and-FBAR-Requirements    You potentially have liability if you had any foreign accounts (investment, retirement, bank accounts) with over a $10k balance at any point during the year (Even if it was a day).  The penalties for not reporting such accounts by filing the reports can be huge (50%+ of the maximum account value).  In addition, the 2014 FBAR deadline is 6/30/15.  "
  physicsgunner (physicsgunner): "Having lived abroad for the past few years myself, this is the comment I was looking for.\n\nFile your FBAR. Please upvote SRD_Grafter. This should be the top comment."
  