Mar 13

Tax time for JET alums

Advice Add Comment (3)

Here’s a JET-related tax question I received from a recent returnee.  Feel free to help this JET alum (and likely many others) by posting to the comment section of this post or emailing to jetwit at jetwit dot com.

“I didnt file taxes for 2007 while I was in Japan, and I was wondering if I should file now for 2008…and if so, should I back file 2007’s as well?? Or should I just forget about it and not file at all.  (That has actually been the advice from a couple of accountants, but I dont know if they full understood what I was talking about.)“

What do people suggest?


3 comments so far...

  • Mike Said on March 14th, 2009 at 11:02 pm:

    You better backfile, since you were supposed to have filed them anyway.

  • Carleen Ben Said on March 15th, 2009 at 5:26 pm:

    Thanks for the reply Mike. So, I will have to fill out the 1040 and 2555ez? Do you know if there will be a penalty fee for backfiling for 2007?? I heard that there will possibly be and that is why I am concerned…

  • Mike Said on March 15th, 2009 at 7:44 pm:

    It looks like there will only be penalties if you have tax due. Since you’re eligible for the foreign earned income exclusion, you should be ok. Here’s a website with more specific information:

    http://taxes.about.com/b/2005/02/17/filing-back-taxes.htm

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