<p>Suppose you are a US citizen who lives abroad until going to college in the US at age 18. You are full-pay and have virtually no personal earned income in the US.</p>
<p>Do you immediately have to start filing US tax returns?</p>
<p>Can you get any tax benefits as a student in this situation?</p>
<p>If you’re a U.S. citizen, you have the same filing obligation whether you live in the U.S. or abroad: you only have to file if you make enough to have a tax liability. Generally, that is $950 of unearned income or $5,700 of earned income assuming you are a dependent on somebody elses return.</p>
<p>No tax breaks for students.</p>
<p>And you have to count your worldwide income - not just US income.</p>
<p>If you have foreign income and/or have paid foreign taxes visit [Foreign</a> Income & Foreign Income Exclusion](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq/0,,id=199669,00.html]Foreign”>http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq/0,,id=199669,00.html) to find out which forms you will need to file.</p>
<p>Don’t be scared, they really aren’t complicated, just a bit time consuming. I did this for years while Happydad and I were overseas.</p>
<p>Are you a US citizen, but your parents are not and you live abroad? If so, that may be why you haven’t filed a US tax return before.</p>
<p>Yes, suppose the parents of the person (X) being supposed about are not US citizens and still live abroad. X has never filed a tax return because a) was under 18, b) no income, c) lived abroad until coming to US for college, d) is anyway a dual citizen. Thanks for the comments so far!</p>
<p>Being under 18 does not exempt one from filing a return. Only your choice b) would be a reason for not filing. </p>
<p>So the answer remains…supposed student needs to file as soon as said student has an income which requires it. Any kind of income. Including unearned income earned abroad.</p>
<p>How do you know that this person would be a full-pay student?</p>
<p>If parents (and student) are not filing a US tax return, there must be equivalent returns in other countries, that colleges must want. I don’t know anything about this, just assuming.</p>
<p>The FAFSA is a US application, for US funds and loans, so if the supposed person is a US citizen, perhaps doing a FAFSA would be a good idea.</p>
<p>Then, colleges usually ask for the CSS Profile, which is more detailed, and/or their own institutional forms.</p>
<p>Some colleges are still giving aid to students whose family income is $180,000.</p>
<p>If the supposed student’s family is very obviously going to pay in full, due to income and/or assets, then this post can just be ignored!</p>
<p>If your income in your current country of residence, plus any US income, is less than the guidelines other posters have given you, then you do not have to do a tax return (but, again, could still do a FAFSA).</p>
<p>If and when you do end up doing a tax return in the US, there are deductions, or credits, that you can claim for a certain amount of the money paid to a college, but the ceiling is quite low compared to the tuition payments themselves.</p>
<p>Oh, don’t worry, I know very well that X is a full-pay student!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is something I am interested in. Can you get ever get free money from the government if your own income is very low (near zero) and someone else is paying the tuition for you?</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>They mean when the family’s income is very low, not the student’s income is low.</p>
<p>If the family’s income is very low, (and can be verified), then some “free money” from the gov’t is available (under $10k per year).</p>
<p>However, if someone else (a relative, etc) is paying for college costs, that may need to be declared at some point.</p>
<p>It depends on whether you are a dependent or not. While our son was in college, he was still our dependent, and we took the tax credit for his tuition. (A dependent receives more than 50% of his support from the parents or whomever he is the dependent of.)</p>
<p>However, this past year, we did not put our son as a dependent on our tax form (since he graduated in May and is self-supporting) and so even though we paid tuition and some loans, the credit goes to him. If the student is not a dependent, then the credit goes to the student even if the parents pay.</p>
<p>Now, these credits are very small, as are the deductions.</p>
<p>And this is strictly tax stuff, nothing to do with financial aid from the government, which is separate, but based on the FAFSA, which is based on tax forms for the preceding year.</p>