外國退休收入要付稅嗎？

 以下是解答詢問國外退休金是否要在美國報稅。

  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":

外國退休收入要付稅嗎？

有些讀者移民美國之前，在國外原居地工作多年，前雇主有提供退休金，不過，要您移民之後才可以按月或一筆收取。這些由國外前雇主付給您的退休金，是否要當為收入，在美國報稅呢？

美國納稅人是要為全世界收入報稅的，即使是移民前工作所賺取的退休金，隻要是在移民美國後收取，都成為美國報稅的收入。如果這些退休金在國外要繳稅，稅款可在美國報稅表上作為抵稅金(Tax Credit)，令您不會付雙重稅金。可是，假如這些退休金在國外免稅，那便全部要當作美國的收入付稅。因此，可以的話應在移民之前將退休金盡取到手，便可以避免繳付美國稅。

美國稅例上第871F條，提到外國人在國外賺到的退休金，不必當為美國收入，過去曾令有些朋友誤會，以為國外退休金不必繳付美國稅。可惜，國稅局在零一年二月發出一個指示，規定上述條例隻適用於外國人，並不包括美國納稅人。由於移民美國者馬上成為美國納稅人，移民後由國外獲得的退休金是要繳納美國稅的。

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 All qualified retirement plans in the U.S. has to be taxed when it is withdrawn in the future. The withdrawn amount is included in that year's income.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