以下是解答询问国外退休金是否要在美国报税。
I have done some research previously on this issue since a number of immigrants with overseas pensions have the same question. A summary of the rules are contained in the following segment of my "money management in 90-seconds":
外国退休收入要付税吗？
有些读者移民美国之前，在国外原居地工作多年，前雇主有提供退休金，不过，要您移民之后才可以按月或一笔收取。这些由国外前雇主付给您的退休金，是否要当为收入，在美国报税呢？
美国纳税人是要为全世界收入报税的，即使是移民前工作所赚取的退休金，只要是在移民美国后收取，都成为美国报税的收入。如果这些退休金在国外要缴税，税款可在美国报税表上作为抵税金(Tax Credit)，令您不会付双重税金。可是，假如这些退休金在国外免税，那便全部要当作美国的收入付税。因此，可以的话应在移民之前将退休金尽取到手，便可以避免缴付美国税。
美国税例上第871F条，提到外国人在国外赚到的退休金，不必当为美国收入，过去曾令有些朋友误会，以为国外退休金不必缴付美国税。可惜，国税局在零一年二月发出一个指示，规定上述条例只适用于外国人，并不包括美国纳税人。由于移民美国者马上成为美国纳税人，移民后由国外获得的退休金是要缴纳美国税的。
A more detailed description is as follows:
On the surface any income, including pension income, that a U.S. taxpayer receives is taxable income on his tax return. This is true even though the income is retirement benefits from working overseas before he becomes a U.S. resident or citizen.
However, we have done some research and found that on a lump sum payment (which is the case here) if the foreign pension plan is like a qualified retirement plan in the U.S., then the tax could be deferred. Below is my e-mail to another individual on this subject:
Dear XXXXX:
I have done some more research to see if there is a way to avoid paying tax on the pension payment. The rules I quoted you before apply to pensions received in the form of an annuity (annual or monthly payment over a period of time) which must be considered taxable income in the year the pension is received. However, in the case lump sum pension payment, it could be handled differently.
If the foreign pension plan can be considered a "qualified retirement plan", then the pension payment can be rolled over into another qualified retirement plan (such as an Individual Retirement Account or IRA) in the U.S. Rollover will not trigger any tax. However, the tax benefit is tax deferral, rather than tax avoidance. All qualified retirement plans in the U.S. has to be taxed when it is withdrawn in the future. The withdrawn amount is included in that year's income. But there is no requirement that withdrawal must take place until one reaches 70-1/2 years old, and the mandatory annual withdrawal is quite small (starts at about 3.3% each year). So it will be many years before one begins to pay tax on the pension money. You can go to the tax section of my website at http://www.moneyradio.org/showSubCategory.php?SCID=205 to learn the rules about mandatory IRA withdrawal.
The above is based on Internal Revenue Code Section 402 (d) which says:
(d) Taxability of beneficiary of certain foreign situs trusts
For purposes of subsections (a), (b), and (c), a stock bonus, pension, or profit-sharing trust which would qualify for exemption from tax under section 501(a) except for the fact that it is a trust created or organized outside the United States shall be treated as if it were a trust exempt from tax under section 501(a).
Section 501(a) describes the rollover and tax deferral procedures I mentioned above.
A CPA friend of mine had done research into the pension plans offered by the Hong Kong government and found that the plans would be considered qualified pension plan in the U.S. So the lump sum payment can be rolled over into an IRA and tax would be deferred.
It can only go into a traditional IRA, not Roth IRA. If you desire to convert your IRA to Roth IRA you can do so as long as you have less than $100,000 in adjusted gross income that year. But any amount you convert would have to be included as income and be taxed.
As for your monthly pension, that is income which has to be reported. This is the same whether the pension income is from a foreign entity or from an U.S. entity. But each couple has about $18,000 in tax free income each year (two personal exemptions of $3400 each and $10,700 in standard deduction), so as long as your income (including this pension income) is less than $17,500 there is no income tax.
Sau-Wing
