Figures relate to tax year 2025 (US)
Before anything else, there is a simpler question than how much tax you owe. Filing thresholds decide whether you owe a return at all, and that is the first thing to settle.
Those are different questions with different answers, and plenty of people abroad owe nothing and must still file.
The numbers that decide it are not complicated. They are just lower than anybody expects.
Key takeaways
- Living abroad does not raise the threshold at all.
- Gross income is the test, before any exclusion or credit.
- The single figure sits around the standard deduction.
- Self-employment has its own threshold of $400.
- A married American with a foreign spouse faces a far lower figure.
- The reporting forms have separate thresholds that often bite first.
- Filing with no tax due protects the statute of limitations.
- Refundable credits are lost if you never file.
What are the US filing thresholds?
Gross income figures that decide whether a return is required. According to IRS guidance on who should file, they track the standard deduction for most people, so a single filer under 65 is looking at roughly fifteen thousand dollars for 2025. Above that line, a return is due.
Our guide to US tax deadlines for expats covers when it is due.
The figures move each year with inflation.
Do filing thresholds change if you live abroad?
No, and that is the heart of the problem. America taxes citizens wherever they live, and the same figures apply in London as in Ohio. There is no higher allowance, no grace period and no special expat threshold anywhere in the rules.
Our guide to US citizens living in the UK covers the baseline.
A British salary counts in full towards the figure.
Is gross income before the exclusion?
Yes, and this catches almost everybody. You test the threshold on income before applying the foreign earned income exclusion or any foreign tax credit. So somebody whose final bill is zero because of those reliefs still crosses the line and still files.
Our guide to Form 2555 and the exclusion covers claiming it.
The relief is claimed on the return, not instead of it.
What are the filing thresholds by status?
Roughly the standard deduction for your filing status, doubled for a married couple filing together and raised a little once you are 65. Head of household sits between the two. The exact numbers shift each year, so check the current ones rather than working from memory.
Our guide to married couples and streamlined filing covers joint filing.
Age and blindness both nudge the figure upwards.
The numbers that matter
| Situation | Threshold | Form |
|---|---|---|
| Single, under 65 | About $15,000 | 1040 |
| Married filing separately | $5 | 1040 |
| Self-employed profit | $400 | 1040 with Schedule SE |
| Foreign accounts total | $10,000 | FinCEN 114 |
| Foreign assets, single abroad | $200,000 | 8938 |
| Gift from a foreign person | $100,000 | 3520 |
Why is married filing separately so low?
Because the figure is five dollars, which is not a typo. An American married to a non-American very often files separately, and that status carries almost no threshold at all. In practice it means anybody in that position files whatever they earn.
Our guide to a nonresident alien spouse covers the choice of status.
This is the commonest expat situation of all.
Do filing thresholds cover self-employment?
Four hundred dollars of net profit brings a filing duty on its own, regardless of the main figures. The threshold is low because the return carries the social security charge rather than income tax. A small amount of freelance work therefore triggers a return.
Our guide to UK contractors with US clients covers the trade.
A certificate of coverage may remove the charge itself.
Do filing thresholds cover the FBAR?
No, and conflating them is a common error. The foreign account report has its own threshold of ten thousand dollars across all accounts combined, and it applies whether or not a tax return is due. Two separate tests, two separate filings.
Our guide to FBAR signature authority covers the account rules.
You can owe one filing and not the other.
What about foreign asset reporting?
Another separate threshold, and a generous one for people abroad. A single American living outside the United States reports when foreign financial assets exceed two hundred thousand dollars at year end, or three hundred thousand at any point in the year.
Our guide to Form 8938 reporting covers the detail.
The figures double for a couple filing together.
A worked example
Take an illustrative case. An American in Leeds earns £38,000, pays British tax on all of it and owes America nothing.
Her gross income comfortably exceeds the single threshold, so a return is due.
She claims the exclusion on that return and the bill comes to zero.
Had she not filed, the zero would never have been established and the years would have stayed open indefinitely.
What if you are under the filing thresholds?
Then no return is legally required, and filing anyway is often still the better move. A filed return starts the clock on how long the IRS can look back, and an unfiled year never starts it. That protection is worth having.
Our guide to the statute of limitations covers the clock.
An unfiled year stays open for ever.
Can filing get you money back?
Sometimes, and only if you file. Refundable credits for children are claimable by many Americans abroad, and the money is simply forfeited by anybody who stays below the radar. A return costing a little can produce a cheque.
Our guide to the child tax credit abroad covers the claim.
There is a time limit on claiming it retrospectively.
Do children have filing thresholds?
They do, and theirs are lower in some ways. A child with unearned income above a small figure files their own return, which catches American children holding British savings or investment accounts. Parents are usually surprised that a child files at all.
Our guide to a child born abroad covers their position.
A Junior ISA can generate exactly this problem.
Does the exclusion affect filing thresholds?
Not the test itself, only the tax. The exclusion reduces what you owe and never what you must report, which is why so many Americans abroad file returns showing nothing payable. The two things are measured at different points.
Our guide to the housing exclusion in London covers the related relief.
Claiming it requires the return it appears on.
What if you missed years?
There is a route back, and it is well worn. The streamlined procedures let somebody who genuinely did not know file a few years and get current without the penalties that ordinarily apply. It exists precisely because this rule surprises people.
Our guide to streamlined eligibility covers who qualifies.
Coming forward voluntarily is the whole point of it.
Does a green card change the filing thresholds?
No. A lawful permanent resident is taxed as a United States person on the same figures as a citizen, even while living abroad. Holding the card rather than the passport makes no difference to any threshold in this article.
Our guide to abandoning a green card covers giving it up.
The duty lasts until the card is formally surrendered.
What about state filing thresholds?
States set their own, and a few pursue former residents on quite low figures. Most people who genuinely left have no state duty, but a handful of states argue the point. Check the last state you lived in rather than assuming.
Our guide to state tax for expats covers the stubborn ones.
California and Virginia are the usual culprits.
Does a foreign gift count?
Not as income, so it does not affect the main threshold at all. It has its own reporting figure of a hundred thousand dollars from a foreign individual, and that filing is informational rather than a tax charge. People conflate the two constantly.
Our guide to Form 3520 and foreign gifts covers the report.
A gift from a parent abroad is not taxable income.
Does an inheritance count?
The same answer. An inheritance from a foreign person is not income for the threshold test, though it may need reporting on the same informational form. The money arrives free of American income tax, and the duty is to disclose rather than to pay.
Our guide to UK inheritance tax and the US system covers estates.
The penalty for not reporting is real even though no tax is due.
When exactly is the return due?
April for everybody, with an automatic extension to June for anyone living abroad on the usual date. A further extension to October is available on request. The June date is automatic and needs no form at all.
Our guide to Form 2350 extensions covers the longer one.
Tax owed is still due in April whatever extension you hold.
What records show you were under?
Your British employment records, bank statements and any self-employment accounts for the year. If you concluded no return was due, keeping the evidence of that conclusion is what protects you later. Memory is not evidence five years on.
Our guide to exchange rates on a US return covers converting the figures.
Convert to dollars before comparing with any threshold.
What counts as gross income?
Nearly everything before deductions: salary, self-employment takings, interest, dividends, rent, pension payments and most benefits. It is a wide net by design. Only a short list of genuinely exempt items sits outside it, and the exclusion for foreign earnings is not one of them.
Our guide to UK savings interest and US tax covers one of the quieter items.
Employer pension contributions can count too, which surprises people.
Do filing thresholds apply to a dual citizen?
In full. Holding a British passport alongside the American one changes nothing, because the duty follows American citizenship wherever else you belong. Somebody who has never lived in America and holds the passport through a parent is in exactly the same position.
Our guide to the accidental American covers that situation.
Never having used the passport makes no difference at all.
Do filing thresholds change after retirement?
Only slightly. The figure rises a little once you reach 65, and pension income counts towards it like anything else. So a retired American in Britain drawing a workplace pension and a state pension usually clears the line without difficulty.
Our guide to retiring to the UK covers retirement here.
Retirement is not an exit from the system.
Does a UK pension count towards it?
Payments you actually draw do. Money sitting inside a scheme and growing does not, because the threshold looks at income rather than wealth. That distinction matters to anybody with a large pot and a modest income in the same year.
Our guide to UK pensions and US tax covers the treatment.
The state pension counts as income when it starts.
What if all your income is British?
It makes no difference whatever. The threshold counts worldwide gross income, so British wages, British interest and British rent all go into the same figure. Where the money was earned affects the relief you can claim, never the duty to file.
Our guide to UK rental income and US tax covers letting here.
Source matters for credits, not for the threshold.
Do filing thresholds apply in the year you move?
Yes, and that year is usually the messiest. You count the whole calendar year wherever you were living, so a move in June still gives one American return covering both halves. Britain splits its year differently, which is why the two never line up.
Our guide to split year treatment covers the British side.
One American year, two British parts, in most moves.
Does a part year abroad reduce anything?
Not the threshold, though it can reduce the exclusion. A person abroad for only part of the year claims a proportion of the exclusion rather than all of it, while the filing test stays exactly where it was. Two different mechanics again.
Our guide to the first year choice election covers part years.
Count the days carefully in the year of a move.
Does a joint return change the figure?
It roughly doubles it, which is why the choice of status matters so much abroad. Filing jointly with a British spouse brings their worldwide income into the American system in exchange for the higher threshold, and that trade is rarely worth taking.
Our guide to a US-UK divorce and tax covers what happens if it ends.
The higher figure is not free, and the price is their income.
How to check your filing thresholds
- Work out your gross income before any exclusion or credit.
- Convert it into dollars at the right rate for the year.
- Identify your filing status, which drives the figure.
- Remember $5 if you file separately from a foreign spouse.
- Add $400 of self-employment profit as a separate trigger.
- Count your foreign accounts against the $10,000 report.
- Check the foreign asset figures if you hold investments here.
- File anyway if you are close, to start the limitations clock.
Mistakes and penalties we see with filing thresholds
The first is testing the threshold after the exclusion rather than before it, and concluding wrongly that nothing is due.
The second is missing the five dollar figure that applies when a spouse is not American.
The third is treating the account report as though it followed the income threshold, when it has its own.
The fourth is skipping a year under the line and losing a refundable credit that would have paid for the return several times over.
How US UK Tax Accountants helps
We answer the threshold question first, because it is cheap to answer and because getting it wrong leaves years open indefinitely.
Then we check the reporting figures separately, since those usually bite before the income ones. Our US federal returns service covers the filings.
If you are unsure whether you should have been filing, get in touch.
Last reviewed 27 October 2026. This article is general information and not personal tax advice, and the figures change each year.
For the neighbouring question, When the American who never filed has died walks through it in detail.
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Get in TouchPrimary sources
Official guidance from the IRS, FinCEN and GOV.UK. Thresholds and rates on those pages are updated annually — check the current tax year before relying on a figure.
- IRS — Who should file (opens in a new tab)
- IRS — About Publication 501, Dependents and Filing Information (opens in a new tab)
- IRS — About Publication 54, Tax Guide for US Citizens Abroad (opens in a new tab)
- IRS — Foreign earned income exclusion (opens in a new tab)
- IRS — About Form 8938 (opens in a new tab)
