Green card holder?
You may still owe US tax returns, even if you've left.
As a green card holder, you’re treated as a US tax resident. That means reporting your worldwide income to the IRS, wherever in the world you actually live.
What many green card holders don't realise.
Holding a green card makes you a US tax resident in the eyes of the IRS. In practice, your obligations look much the same as a US citizen’s, and they don’t end the day you leave the country.
You're taxed on worldwide income
Salary, investments, rental, business — wherever you earn it, it's all reportable to the US, the same as for a citizen.
FBAR & FATCA still apply
Your foreign bank, brokerage and pension accounts are reportable on FinCEN 114 (FBAR) and Form 8938 (FATCA).
It continues until you formally abandon it
Not when you leave the US. Not when the card expires. Your tax status ends only when you formally abandon the green card with USCIS and the IRS.
The beliefs that get green card holders into trouble.
Most of the misconceptions we hear share one theme: assuming the obligation has quietly ended. Here’s what’s actually true.
The filings that come with green card status.
Now that the misconceptions are out of the way, here’s what actually applies: the same core obligations as a US citizen abroad, and the same relief provisions when you’ve fallen behind.
Your annual federal return (Form 1040) reports income from every country: wages, investments, rental, and business alike.
FBAR (FinCEN 114) and FATCA (Form 8938) disclosure for your HK and APAC bank, brokerage, and pension accounts.
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and Foreign Tax Credit mean most clients file a US return without being taxed twice.
The IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore procedure is a penalty-free path for those who qualify as non-willful. You’re not the first, and we do this often.
2,000+
12+
5+
100%
Your green-card tax status follows you.
Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Sydney, or anywhere across the region: your US filing obligation travels with the card, not your address. The local specifics differ from place to place — treaty availability, retirement schemes, the treatment of foreign funds. Those cross-border details are exactly what we handle for each client, individually.
Find out where you actually stand.
Whether you’re ready to file or just want to understand your position, the first conversation is straightforward.
Get a quotation
You know you need to file. Let’s scope it and get you a fixed quotation for your green-card situation.
Speak with our team
Still working out whether any of this applies to you? Talk it through with a CPA before you commit to anything.