I never filed Form 8840 for last winter — is it too late?
Not necessarily, and the sooner it goes in the better it reads. The closer-connection statement is evidence of a position, so its weight depends partly on when it was made: one filed with the year's return is contemporaneous, while one produced after a question has been asked invites the question of why it was not there before. The work is the same either way — count the days for the year, establish that the tax home and the ties were elsewhere, and put that on the record. The lateness is a fact to be explained, not a bar.
Does a late statement still protect my non-resident position?
It can, but it is weaker than a timely one and it is not the whole defence. What actually protects the position is the underlying facts: whether your tax home stayed in the other country and whether your ties pointed there. The statement is how those facts are presented. Filed late, with contemporaneous records behind it, it is a real document; filed late with nothing behind it, it is an assertion. That is why the first work on a late year is the evidence, and the drafting comes after.
What is the penalty for filing Form 8840 late?
The exposure here is not a tax-geared penalty on the statement itself. What is at stake is the residency position, and residency is what carries consequences: someone treated as a US resident for a year is expected to file as one, and that obligation exists whether or not any tax turns out to be payable. So the useful way to think about a missed statement is not as a late form with a price attached but as an unsupported position in a year that someone may look at. The remedy is to support it.
Can I file Form 8840 for several past winters at once?
You can address several years, but each one is decided separately. The day count is worked out year by year using the relevant earlier years, and a year that does not meet the test needs no statement at all. So the first task is arithmetic across the whole period, which usually narrows the years in question. Filing a statement for every year in a run, including those where the test was never met, is not thoroughness — it puts your name on filings that were not required and invites questions about the years that were.
The IRS says I am a US resident — what do I do now?
Start with the day count rather than with the correspondence. Establish for the year in question how the count was reached, because it looks back over more than one year and the arithmetic is where these disputes are usually won or lost. If the count is right, the question becomes whether your tax home and closer connection were elsewhere, and whether the closer-connection statement or the treaty tie-breaker is the route that fits those facts. Answer in one consistent account, with the schedule of days attached, rather than in instalments.
Is the treaty tie-breaker a better route when I am late?
It is a different route, not automatically a better one. The tie-breaker resolves residency between two countries; the closer-connection statement works within the US domestic rules and depends on your tax home and ties. Facts that support one will not always support the other, and being late does not change which one your facts fit. What lateness does change is that you may be choosing under a deadline set by someone else, so the choice is made once, deliberately, before anything is filed or written to anyone.
I work remotely from another country for a company back home — who taxes me?
Usually the country you are physically in, because employment income is generally sourced where the work is done, with your residence country taxing it as well if you are resident there and giving credit. Three things follow: your employer may acquire withholding and social security obligations where you sit, a treaty tie-breaker may be needed if both countries call you resident, and a short trip that becomes a long stay can cross a residence threshold nobody was watching. See remote workers and digital nomads.
How would a foreign tax authority know I am resident there?
Mostly from information you or your bank already provided. Account-opening forms ask you to self-certify tax residence, and that certification is reported between authorities under the Common Reporting Standard or, for US accounts, under the FATCA framework. Beyond that: employer and payroll filings, property registries, immigration records and the tax filings of anyone who paid you. The realistic planning assumption is that the data arrives. See FATCA and information reporting.
