US Citizen residing in India - Confusion about address

[JG1982]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I have to file my tax return by Oct 15 and have few questions:

1. I was residing in California till Oct 2013, and then moved back to India where I first lived at my parents house (W-2 from my employer has address of my parents house on it), and after my marriage in Nov 2013 I have been residing with my husband at his house. I submitted a request with USPS to forward my mail to my sister-in-law's address at Connecticut before leaving US. I did not change my address with IRS or with any other governmental agency. What address should I use while filing my income tax return? Also, I have to file for my husband's green card soon and we plan to come and live in California. I do not want any discrepancy in the addresses I state in the immigration forms and tax return that may cause any problem later on.
2. If I use India address, do I have to show my Indian bank accounts in the tax return?

Thanks

 

[FlyingRon]

You should use an address that you reliably can receive correspondence at. The IRS doesn't care where you actually reside.
Note that forwarding order is probably about to run out, it's only good for a year for first class (and shorter for other mail).

 

[JG1982]

You should use an address that you reliably can receive correspondence at. The IRS doesn't care where you actually reside.
Note that forwarding order is probably about to run out, it's only good for a year for first class (and shorter for other mail).

Thanks for your reply FlyingRon!!

 

[LdiJ]

You should use an address that you reliably can receive correspondence at. The IRS doesn't care where you actually reside.
Note that forwarding order is probably about to run out, it's only good for a year for first class (and shorter for other mail).

If she is earning income in India, the IRS actually DOES care where she resides.

If her bank accounts in India have contained more than 10,000 at any one given time that matters too.

 

[FlyingRon]

If she is earning income in India, the IRS actually DOES care where she resides.

If her bank accounts in India have contained more than 10,000 at any one given time that matters too.

I knew some pedantic person would give me crap about the comment. The IRS doesn't care what you put down as the address at the top of the form as long as you are reliably reached by US mail there.

Yes, where you actually reside and where you are working has implications for taxation in a number of ways.

 

[LdiJ]

I knew some pedantic person would give me crap about the comment. The IRS doesn't care what you put down as the address at the top of the form as long as you are reliably reached by US mail there.

Yes, where you actually reside and where you are working has implications for taxation in a number of ways.

What I meant was, if you are trying to claim the foreign income exclusion, your foreign address MUST appear on your tax return. It doesn't have to appear as your mailing address, but it does have to appear. If you are trying to avoid filing a state return (for any state) you have to fight with them if you use a stateside address for your mailing address on your tax return. The state part should NOT work that way, but I have seen it be an issue all over the place.

 

[davew128]

I knew some pedantic person would give me crap about the comment. The IRS doesn't care what you put down as the address at the top of the form as long as you are reliably reached by US mail there.

I'm going to disagree with this statement for a different reason. While yes the IRS wants you to be able to reliably receive mail, when dealing with someone who resides overseas using a US address on the return can present problems when trying to resolve problems because the IRS will treat the taxpayer as if they reside in the US.