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I hope that someone can either answer or point me toward a competent professional for my situation:

I am a born and raised American citizen who left the states in 1993, after filing taxes once as a student. I moved to France, was naturalised a French citizen in 2003, and only recently learned that I was supposed to have been filing taxes all these years in the US.

I was advised by a non-US investment attorney that since I have no financial ties to the US and no intention of living there again, that I remain "lost" to the US tax services.

However, I am now confronted with having to sign W-9 or W-8BEN for contracts to work through the Internet, or for bank accounts here in the Dominican Republic where I have been a legal resident for over 3 years, with an established and functioning LLC.

I desperately want to sign a W-8BEN and be left alone, but need some real advice on how to avoid getting into trouble, or getting potential employers in trouble.

I greatly appreciate any help !!

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Patricia Kalyn Pabst
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1 Answers1

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You need a US-based lawyer. I think your question is beyond the scope of this forum. I would not trust a non-US lawyer to understand your position under US law. The fact that you're presented with a W-9 also seems to indicate that you're not going to be "lost" to the IRS for long (if you ever really were). US tax law extends to income of US citizens earned abroad, so it definitely seems plausible that you have a real issue that you might want to address sooner than later.