Filing Taxes in the VI

On a somewhat related topic, I have been searching for a copy of Turbotax or Taxcut (K-Mart, Radioshack, Cost-U-Less, etc.) without success. I even looked in Puerto Rico this past week without luck. Are these programs sold here or will I have to order it off the internet?

You can download TurboTax off the internet. I have done this for the past three years.

Go to: www.turbotax.com

jbr17,

Sorry to tell you that it can actua;lly take longer than four months to get your first tax refund. We filed in late March of last year, and didn't receive our refund until December. The good news is the IRS paid us interest on the refund. The bad news is that is one of the faster turn around times for first time filer refunds that I have heard about -- other friends on island have had to file their second year taxes before receiving their refund from their first year on island (they had been waiting over a year when we discussed this), and one friend of ours said she waited several years.

As far as who you tell about what income, I believe that you will report all income on the federal form, which you will submit to the USVI tax office. (Helpful note - you are required bring a complete copy of your federal tax forms along with your originals when you go to file at your local tax office so the cooy can be stamped as prrof of filing. They will be happy to make copies for you if you don't bring your own -- at a cost of $5 per page, or some similarly outrageous cost.)

Whether you need to report your STT income on your state form or not should depend on what state you're from. In Virginia, you report your total income from all sources, then deduct income earned/taxed in other states/territories -- you still end up paying tax only on the local income. That should be the net result regardless of whether the state requires you to report all income or only that which was earned while you were a resident of that state.

Please note that I am in no way a tax guru and all of this advice is based only on my personal experience and research. It would be wise to doublecheck any advice given on finacial matters with an expert. 🙂

Good luck to all this tax season!

--HC

jbr - There is a VIRB form to submit (to VIRB) with your taxes if you have split income between the VI and elsewhere.

JE - If you don't want to download TT, you can find it at Office Max.

You really want to check with someone about this. I'm fairly sure that, if you are living in the VI when you file and you have VI income, then you submit everything to the VI government and file NO federal income tax report.

But I could be wrong.

Can anyone recommend a good (creative 😉 person to do income taxes on St Croix ????

Linda J -- your point about "living in the VI when you file and you have VI income, then you submit everything to the VI government and file NO federal income tax report" is my understanding, too, and what we did our first year on island. I realize now that my reference to "reporting all income on the federal form" didn't make it clear that even though you will use the federal forms, you submit them to the USVI taxation/revenue office, not to the Internal Revenue Service.

So sorry if that added to anyone's confusion.

Linda -

I feel sure Uncle Sam considers me a savant in the creative arena...I've got Turbo Tax - surely the VI form bears some resemblance to the stateside forms...we could plug your numbers in and see where it takes us! If you want a "real" financial person, sorry, can't help...if you want a tax report that should win an award, I may be your girl. It's worked for me - I've managed to fly under the radar for 30 years....squeezing the buffalo nickel and all...

Sam

Ok, so are you folks saying that even tho that first job had Federal and State income taxes taken from them, I do not file taxes with them, but only with IRB since that is where I live now? I guess I should probably just find someone on St Thomas to do my taxes this year and then I can figure it out by myself after that...

So, anyone know of a good accountant that will do taxes for cheap on St Thomas!?!?

I think the VI government tries to recover the taxes you paid in another jurisdiction. If you have to pay state income taxes, you are much better off filing here. And rule #2 in the VI is: Always OWE them.

Great accountant is: Kathy Gibson 776-0640
kathy@katheringibsoncpa.com
(That is the way it is listed in the phone book, but if it doesn't work, I'd try @katherinEgibsoncpa.com)

P.S. Good accountants don't come cheap!

I did mine online. using turbotax there is an option for VI. got my return in 3 days. didnt cost anything, look up free file on the irs website